Pactio!
by Meinos Kaen
Summary: Some things that happen can lead to different evolutions in a person's history, if they happen in different circumstances or with different people. This is the case of Naruto. Tricked by an ermine. Negima XOver
1. First Hour

Disclaimer: I don't Naruto or Negi Magister Magi.

This came to me after reading all the Negima spoilers to date. And so, this crazy idea came to me… Now, before you ask me in reviews, there will be NO YAOI! Seriously, with all the girls of Negima…

So… Enjoy.

_Prologue_

"Wow… I had no idea there were other hidden places like my village…" It sure was a nice and new place, for Negi. After all, it was like the complete opposite of his birthplace. He had always lived in an English town where lots of people used magic. In that town, clearly oriental-styled, there were lots of ninjas, instead.

The nine year old had received his assignment. To head to Japan and be a teacher in the Mahora Academy. But on the way, he had to stop in that village because he needed to recharge his magic power for the other half of the trip… Or better, the other jump. To make the travel easier, they had given Negi a special artefact that, powered by his magic power, would let him cover the distance in a few minutes… Well, of course, Negi still hadn't enough magic power for that. He had to stop three times to rest. Fortunately, that was the last stop. Once he recharged his magical power again, he would be able to reach Japan, finally. Just an hours left…

But we've seen many times that a couple hours can make the difference. Especially if a certain other person was following Negi's movements, planning to meet with him when it was safe. After all, a talking ermine is pretty strange even in a ninja village.

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"Hmmm… Now, what to do…"

Naruto, surprisingly, found himself with nothing to do. There was still a day to go before they final meeting with Iruka-sensei at the academy, where they would tell him and the other graduates other things about being a genin and stuff like that. But now, he was bored. He didn't want to train that day because at least the following day he didn't want to arrive late. And that left just one obvious option… That made Naruto turn his face into a mischievous grin.

"It's… Prank-time." He grinned while rubbing his hands. It had been a while since he had done that, after all… Three days. Now, to find the perfect victim… He looked around. He noticed an unusual looking person. A glasses-wearing brat with a staff on his back, wearing a large coat… Now, that was suspicious. Why would a kid be wearing a coat? Unless… Naruto remember about a time when he heard Iruka sensei talk with angry mother about coat-wearing perverts who did something to children… Maybe this was a henged coat wearing pervert! Time for an anti-pervert prank, then! He suddenly turned into an alley.

"Hmmm… I think it's better if I do a little preparation… Yes. I'll lure him with an excuse and then, PAM! I will hit! Henge!" And with a handseal and a puff of smoke, in place of Naruto appeared a clothed version of his Oiroke no Jutsu. Time to put the plan into action.

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Chamo was an ermine. A descendant of the supreme Caith Sith with no bonds, free like the air… Except for the debt of gratitude he held towards one child. The child was named Negi Springfield. He had heard of his important mission, and he couldn't help but be worried. After all, a ten years old going to a school in Japan to be a teacher… That was going to be a pretty difficult task even for his aniki. That's why he had decided to follow him, and he finally had managed to catch up to him, even if he had been forced to use a lot of his ermine dollars to buy spells to reach him in Konoha. In the end, he was about to wait for him to walk somewhere where a talking ermine could come out and greet a human… So, a dark alley was the ideal. But, he clearly hadn't expected Negi to be approached by a hot blonde girl. Maybe… There was time for a pactio, before meeting aniki. He could use some more ermine dollars. And he just knew the method. He had seen that movie, after all… 101 Dalmatians or something…

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Negi had been a bit surprised when a girl had suddenly jumped out of an alley asking him to help her with something. It turned out the girl asked him to retrieve something from a tree. It looked like one of those things many ninjas around there carried on their foreheads. Little did he know that, while he was climbing the tree, said 'girl' was preparing to punch the light out of him the moment he came back to the ground. And when Negi fell out of the tree, quite clumsily, 'she' pulled back his punch, ready to punch him on the head, even if he was still on the ground.

"Ahiahiahi… Nee-chan, that hurt… Uh?" Negi raised his head… And was scared to see the girl clearly prepared to punch him. But what would happen next would scare him even more.

The hidden ermine had decided to use that occasion to put in motion his plan. He came out running from his hiding place and ran around the 'girl's' legs a couple times, holding a rope in his mouth.

"Eh?" Naruto was clearly surprised by this, since he was falling to the ground towards Negi… And unfortunately, if Negi had stayed on the ground nothing would have happened, since the henge dispelling made him a lot shorter, of course. But the English mage, clearly frightened, had decided to get up… And so…

"!"

"!"

What would have happened with Sasuke the next day happened instead with Negi that day… With the difference of a ermine saying Pactio and summoning a circle of light and wind around the two… Just to faint vomiting once he witnessed what he had just done. And a card appearing in Negi's hands.

"…"

"…"

The two children stayed like that for like… Ten seconds. Then, they let out two enormous screams that frightened the shit out of everyone in a ten kilometres radius. And in the meanwhile, Sasuke Uchiha shivered.

"What… This… This feeling…" _It's like… A million of Yaoi fangirls suddenly awakened from their slumber… But why do I feel safer?_

**Pactio!**

**First hour: The kiss of doom**

Now, what's the first thing you would do if by accident you would kiss a tenish year old kid? Naruto, still screaming along with the kid, ran to his apartment, making a very awkward sight for the street-walkers. Once there, he had started washing his teeth, using as much toothpaste as he could. While doing that, he poured the other half of the toothpaste container in the child's mouth.

"WASH IT! WASH LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!" And not much surprisingly, the child complied, using Naruto's spare toothbrush.

After a good half an hour of tooth, tongue and everything the mouth is made off, to the point that they had consumed their lips, it was time for talk… Or self-loathing.

"I kissed a ten year old brat… And it was my first kiss too… NOOOOOOO! IT HAD TO BE SAKURA-CHAAAAAAAAN!" Naruto was crying his soul out, in a comical way. Surprisingly, Negi, compared to him, seemed much more mature. He wasn't acting like Naruto in any way.

"Ehm… Come on, it's not like… It's the end of the world…" Tried to say the soon to be teacher. But Naruto just screamed back.

"IT'S WORSE! IT'S THE END OF MY LOVE LIFE! AAAAAARGH! I JUST HOPE NOBODY SAW US!!!" Naruto shifted like a woman subject to her monthly things from sad to angry to desperate. Then… He turned to curious. "And by the way… Who the hell are you?"

"Ehm…" Negi rubbed the back of his head. He didn't expect that question… At least so soon.

"I mean, you're not henged, but that staff, that cloak… And the shoes and pants too. You clearly aren't from Konoha…" Naruto scratched his head in thought, then he just let out an exasperated sigh. "Well, whatever. If you disappear as soon as possible I can deny everything, in case someone asks…"

"Ehm… Probably… Uh?" Suddenly, Negi noticed something sticking out of his pocket. He picked it out. It was a card. A really strange card. On the card the most evident detail was the image of… The boy standing in front of him. He was standing in a flashy pose, facing away from him, but slightly turned, so that the right side of his face and his right arm were clearly showing. His face was morphed into a fierce smile, and you could see his left hand giving the thumb ups. But what really was particular was the… Weapon? The thing attached to his right arm. It looked like there were two triangular shaped blades, one black, one white, each one as big as his forearm attached one to the end of the other, forming a rhomboidal like shape parallel to the shape of his arm. One could probably wonder how the things were attached to his arms… It probably had to do with the multicoloured rope-like thing that was wrapped around almost the whole length of his right arm.

Then, he began to observe the rest of the card. Behind the image of the boy, there was the clear shape of a magic circle. In the right upper corner, there was the word 'Nigror' above the word 'Tonus' and over a light circle of said colour. In the upper left corner of the card was a 'I', the Latin way of writing the number 1. Above the picture, in the middle, were the words 'Charta Minister'.

In the lower half of the card… The most evident thing was what he guessed was the name of the boy. It was written 'Uzumaci Naruto', the surname above the name. Under it, written in smaller characters, there was a strange writing… 'Heros Inrequietus'. In the lower left corner of the card was the world 'Astralitas' and lower, almost on the edge of the card, the world 'Sol', and between them, the symbol of said planet, a large circle with a single dot in the middle. And in the lower right corner of the card, again the number 'I'.

Finally, between the last two things, there were four more words, one above the other. The first word, from up to down, was the word 'Virtus'. Under it, in bigger characters, the word 'Iudicium'. Under it, in the same characters as 'Virtus', the word 'Directio'. Under it, in the same characters as 'Iudicium', the word 'Auster'.

"…" _Now that I think about it… I was caught by surprise at the moment, but rethinking about it… I clearly felt magic power being summoned._

"Hmm? What is that?" Naruto had leaned in to observe the card Negi was holding. Not able to observe it completely, he walked behind Negi, and he managed to take in the card in all his might. "Woooooow! It's cool! Damn, I look cool in this thing… But what is it?"

"Ehm… I don't really know… And that's what troubles me…" Negi said, starting to worry a little. Naruto blinked, and Negi almost wanted to cry. He had already got in trouble. He didn't know what had happened, before. The only thing he knew was that a spell had been cast… And the card had something to do with it. The only thing that gave him some tips were the words 'Charta Minister'. They meant 'Contract' and 'Follower/Attendant'. Whatever happened… It had probably someway bounded the older boy to Negi. He had been discovered… Even before starting his assignment? "… Ehm… Uzumaki Naruto-san… That's your name, right?"

"Eh? Wow. How do you know? Are you a magician or what?" Asked Naruto, grinning like only he knew how to. Negi just turned around and said…

"Yes, I am."

"…" Naruto stopped grinning, and then blinked. Once more. Two more times. Then, he opened his mouth. "Say what?"

"My name is Negi Springfield. I'm a mage in training. I was heading to a foreign country called Japan to begin my first assignment, but I had to stop here to refresh my energy reserves for the trip. Earlier, I don't know why, a spell has been cast that somewhat tied yourself to me, but I don't know what it is or what it does do."

"…" Naruto's brain processed what the child, Negi, had said to him… And it automatically said to him to answer with a smart-ass remark. "Yes. And I'm a freaking immortal with five hearts and strange black rope things in the place of my bones, muscles, and inner organs."

"…" While somewhere far away a certain missing nin sneezed, Negi looked at the ground, and sniffled a bit. Then, he took out his training wand and said, pointing it towards a piece of paper near Naruto's feet… "Ardescat." The piece of paper immediately caught fire.

"!!!" Needless to say, Naruto jumped, and after a good ten seconds on looking alternatively at Negi and the piece of paper… He began to stomp out the fire. After it was taken care of, he stared at Negi wide eyed. Negi was glad that it took so little to persuade him. "Then… You were telling the truth?!"

"… Yes…" Then, Naruto got a little more startled when little tears started to form in his eyes. "I'm sorry! I don't… I don't know what happened, and what this card is! The only thing I know is that you're tied to me some way, now!"

"…" Naruto was starting to get really worried. "Ehm… So, there's something like… A curse on me, now?"

"I… I don't know…" Negi sniffled a bit, finally revealing a bit his true age. Naruto was sweating a lot. "… I think… I think it would be better if you came with me…"

"E-Eh?!" Naruto began to freak out. Follow him?! Follow him where?! "W-What… Why should I do that?!"

"I… I don't know what could happen to you if we got too far away from each other. Right now you're well, but there are some spells who are triggered by distance…" Now Negi was crying a bit more. "P-Please! I… If you come with me, I'll manage to discover something about what happened! If something happened to you… Not only you would get hurt or worse, but I would probably get turned into an ermine!"

"…" Now, Naruto's mind was elaborating various pieces of information, all of them at the same time. The child was a mage. The child had, by mistake, cast a spell on him. And he had said that something bad could happen to Naruto and that he would get turned… Into an ermine? Whatever. That was not the point. What mattered was… He was asking him to follow him somewhere he didn't know for kami knew how long… And the following morning he was finally going to become a ninja… He didn't want to leave. Not after he had finally managed to become one… But, there was the matter that his life could be at risk. No life, no ninja, and not Hokage… But, the stab at his heart were Negi's tears. So, in the end, Naruto asked himself, 'What would the Yondaime do?', already knowing the answer. And for that… He sighed deeply and a bit sadly. _He would of course give priority to his life rather than his ninja-status… And to Negi's problems as well. _"… When were you planning on departing?"

"Eh? Then, you…" Negi tried to say. Naruto replied sarcastically…

"What do you think? I don't think I'd like being dead. And I don't know about being an ermine, but it doesn't sound so great…"

"Ehm… Right… Well, I was planning on departing tomorrow morning, so that I would arrive immediately in Japan on my way to the school…" Negi rubbed the back of his head, a lot of embarrassment still there, even if he had stopped crying, somewhat. And suddenly, he felt a hand on his head.

"And by the way, stop crying! After all, you're the only one who I can depend on for solving this matter! You can't get all depressed, right?" Naruto gave Negi a big grin and a thumb up. Negi stared at the blonde for a few seconds… And the smiled.

"A-Alright!" While Negi's mood turned a bit for the better, Naruto, inside, was crushed… He was going to leave Konoha… And probably miss his only chance at being a ninja.

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The following morning, after a good needed night of sleep… Well, as much sleep as Naruto managed to catch, the blonde and Negi had had breakfast, then washed. Then, while Negi dressed himself, Naruto was packaging his things… And Negi suddenly interrupted him.

"Naruto-san, I think it would be better if you got dressed in some of my clothes." Naruto raised an eyebrow at Negi, while he go out of his bag an outfit almost identical to his own, only that this one was in a strange tone of red… What was the name? B-Bor… Mah.

"Why the hell should I wear that? And, aren't your clothes a bit too small for me?"

"These should suit you fine. Anya-chan bought it for me, but it's too big. After all, if you have to pass as an acquaintance of mine, you should at least dress like me… And we should think of a new name too."

"…" Naruto scratched his head. It made sense… "Just give me the damn thing." So, he took the outfit, provided with tie and shoes and another cloak, this one white, and put it on as fast as he could, providing himself a few problems with the white shirt. Once he had finished packing and closed the curtains, it was time for… Departing.

"So… You're gonna cast one of your spells?"

"Y-Yes. Please, stay near me. We have to be transported together." Said that, Negi took a hold of the big staff he carried around. And suddenly, like the day before, a strong wind began to blow from a circle of light that appeared on the ground. Only that, this time, Negi was saying something in a language he had never heard of before. And suddenly, in the blink of an eye, they were there no more. Naruto Uzumaki and Negi Springfield left Konoha, leaving behind a vacant apartment, a vacant place in the team placement and a just recovered ermine.

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"John Smith?"

"Naaa… It sounds lame…"

"John Wayne?"

"No."

"Harrison Ford?"

"Good god, can you at least think of a name that bears a little resemblance to mine?"

Usually, during a situation as tiring as trying to decide a new name and Negi picking out just dumb ones, Naruto would be screaming, but he was managing to whisper. Well, that because of two things. One, because it would be strange hearing two kids talking about fake names. Negi had explained to him that some mages, just by knowing your name, could discover many things about you… Even spy on you and read your mind. Second, Naruto was more interested in what was around him. He had been since they had arrived in Japan. Not that anyone could blame him. Everything was so different… Clothes, houses… And the thing that was carrying them now, what was the name? A train.

"Hmmm… Something with the same first letters?" Negi began to think about it… And then slightly punched his right open palm. "I got it! What about Neil?! Neil Summergale."

"Mmmm…" Naruto thought about it for a while. Well, it had a good sound… "Hmmm… Alright. I'll use this name… By the way, it sure is lucky that they talk my same language, here. I don't know a word of... What was the name? English…" It was just so hard for Naruto to talk that language. No syllables or anything… Everything a flow, in that language. "I mean, they even go like… Woah!"

A harsh movement of the train sent some girls flying into Naruto and Negi, causing a faint blush to appear on their faces, cause their heads were bosom-height.

"Damn, this place is crowded…" Naruto and Negi slowly walked away from the girls, still blushing. And he couldn't help but notice some older girls looking at them and giggling… Then, they suddenly grinned at them, scaring them both. And Naruto could swear to have seen that same grin on Ino and Sakura when they were around Sasuke, sometimes.

"Hey, kid. Your little brother should have dropped off at the previous stop, you know."

"The only stops left are middle and high schools."

"My little… Ah." Naruto stopped in mid sentence. _They took us for brothers? But we don't look anything like each other…_

"ACHOOO!"

"!!!"

Suddenly, an enormous gust of wind lifted Naruto's coat… And all the girls' skirts, causing Naruto to blush as red as a tomato. What the… Then, he turned to Negi, who went 'Ah'.

"…" He suddenly grabbed Negi by the scarf and began to shake him like a rag doll. "THEN, I WAS RIGHT ABOUT SOMETHING, THE FIRST TIME I MET YOU! YOU ERO-YOUJI!(1)"

"IT WAS AN ACCIDEEEEEEENT! I SWEAR!"

While Negi was about to lose his breakfast, and the girls still tried to find out what was that wind, a voice coming from a speaker broke the semi-silence.

_[UNext stop: Mahora Academy Central[/U_

"N-Naruto-san… It's our stoooooop…"

"Uh? Really?" Saved by the speaker. Naruto put Negi again on the ground just in time for him to recover before the doors opened and lots of people rushed out, Negi and Naruto included… And they suddenly found themselves in hell. People running at high speed everywhere, some of them even running on rails and roofs. Naruto had never seen anything like that.

"What the hell?! All these guys are going to school?! They're all students?!" Naruto believed to find himself in the middle of a battle.

"Seems like so… It's so chaotic, school in japan… Ah! But we have to hurry too! I have my first lesson, this morning!"

"Lesson?! You're here to study?!"

"No! I'm here to be a teacher!"

"A TEACHER?! BUT YOU'RE TEN YEARS OLD!"

And, so, Negi and Naruto run trough the crowd of people, headed towards their destination, Mahora Academy.

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Naruto knew Negi from like… One day. And he had already discovered a few things about the child. One of those was that whenever he sneezed, it meant trouble of the perverted kind. And that girl violent like Sakura-chan existed. In the arc of… Half an hour, the boy had made one girl angry and then stripped her to her underwear (bear underwear, by the way…). And right now, they were in the principal's office with the girl and a friend of her. The principal was a strange man… At first impression, it gave off the same aura as the Sandaime, in his eyes, but by his actions, he looked completely different. Like, trying to hook up his grand-daughter with a 10… No, nine year old… Well, it was a joke, after all…

"And by the way, Negi-kun… Who's the blonde boy with you?"

"Uh?" Naruto awakened from his thoughts, realizing everyone's attention was focused on him. Negi immediately reacted.

"Ehm… This is a friend of mine. He likes to travel a lot, and so, he asked me if he could come with me in Japan. He's very curious about the Japanese scholastic system, so he politely asked me if he could be my guardian. Right, Neil-kun?"

"Ehm… Yes. My name is Neil Summergale. It's a pleasure. I'll help Negi in every way possible." Naruto grinned and gave everyone a thumbs up.

"Hmmm… Understood. Well, I suppose there's no problem. It's his first assignment… Well, let's start right now. Let me introduce you to our staff guidance officer, Shizuna sensei. Shizuna-kun!"

Negi turned around in a flash at the sound of an opening door… And for the second time that day, he found himself between a pair of mountains of flesh called breasts.

"…" _Maybe it really isn't his fault… It's like his destiny to find himself in these kind of situations._

"If there's anything you don't understand, you should ask her. Oh, and one more thing." The old principal turned towards the two girls. "Konoka, Asuna-chan. Can Negi-kun stay in your room for a while? We haven't decided where he's going to stay yet."

Hell broke loose again. Naruto plugged his ears with his fingers till the jii-san silenced them… Then, something occurred to him.

"Ehm, ano-sa, Jii-san. What about me?" Even the two girls returned their attention to Naruto. The taller girl was afraid of having another brat in her home. The other girl, named Konoka, didn't say anything and just smiled. "I mean… I don't have a place to stay either… I mean, if you have a spare one it's okay, otherwise I'll arrange myself somewhere…" _Well, I slept out even for a week, after all… I loved that tree branch._

"Ohohoh. Don't worry, I already thought about that as well. You'll get a notice after the end of the lessons. Now, you should hurry. Classes are about to start."

"R-Right."

In a hurry, Negi, Naruto, Konoka and Asuna were out of the room, bringing with them Shizuna, leaving the principal alone… Who couldn't help but wonder why the two youngsters had told him a lie, about the blonde one's identity.

_It doesn't look dangerous at all… But it still itches this old man's curiosity. Hohoho…_

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"Hmph."

"Mmmm…"

"… Konoka-san, what's with your friend?"

"Asuna is very easy to tick off… And she can be a little resentful, but deep down, she's kind…"

"Veeeeeeeeery deep down, I could say…" _She is like Sakura-chan… Just less pretty and less intelligent and less kind… She only has her brute strength and temper…_

"By the way, Neil-san… From what you said, you travel around the world… I mean, at your age you should be in junior high…" Konoka changed the subject, a bit because it would be useless to talk about Asuna because she was just like that, and a bit because she really was curious about the twelve years old blonde.

"Ehm… Right, but… What can I say, I love travelling. Ahahah…" _Let's just hope that she doesn't ask about the places I visited, because I have never even been outside Konoha…_

"But, don't your parents say anything about it?" Konoka asked. Ah, the innocence… Naruto just grinned at her.

"Don't have any."

"E-Eh?" Konoka got a bit startled by Naruto's sudden answer, to the point that she almost tripped.

"I'm an orphan. Never had any parents or any other relatives. Been alone since I was a newborn, so no one is gonna complain, don't… Uh?" Naruto interrupted himself and then blinked because… And then sweatdropped because… Because Konoka was on the verge of tears, with eyes completely filled with water.

"Uhhhh… THAT'S SO SAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!" And then the girl really broke out crying.

"… Ehm, come on… I mean, if I don't cry, why should you? It's alright." Naruto patted Konoka's back, in comfort. Then, he noticed that he had a tissue sticking out of his right pocket. It came with the outfit, probably… He handed it to Konoka. "Here."

"Sniff… Thanks… PROOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!"

"Ehm… It's a gift." _No way I'm putting it back in my pocket, now…_

"I refuse to live together with someone like you! Go camp outside with a sleeping bag or something! I'm going ahead! See you later, sensei!"

"A-Asuna, that was mean… Excuse me, Neil-san. See you in the classroom…" Said Konoka, before hurrying after Asuna. Naruto scratched his head and approached Negi.

"What's with her?" It was Negi's turn to ask. Shizuna-sensei just smiled. Naruto just crossed his arms.

"Uhuhuh… That girl's always rowdy, but she's really a nice person." The woman handed Negi something. It looked like a little book… Like one of those Iruka-sensei had. What was the name? "Here, take the class roll." Yep. That. "Will you be ok as a teacher, Negi-kun?"

"T-Thanks… I'm… I'm a little nervous." And frankly, Naruto was too. Mainly because we would have to keep up a masquerade for god knows how long. And there was that card that had become the symbol of a time bomb… Yes, he wasn't going to be so easy… And when he looked inside the classroom, and noticed that the class was full of girls, he got nervous again. _Oh, man… I don't know why, but the girls always have the irresistible urge to hit me, whenever I'm around… Well, those who actually notice that I exist… And Negi's gonna be their teacher? Wow…_ Naruto walked behind Negi, and started breathing deeply and slowly. _Ok. Gonna act like a guardian… So, first thing, shield Negi from the 200 sure blackboard duster trap. I always did that whenever a new teacher came…_

So, when Negi opened the door, Naruto put a hand in front of him and didn't let him walk forward. The blackboard duster hit the ground, under the stares of a good part of the class.

"Please, Negi, don't come in till I say you so." Naruto walked in before Negi and Shizuna, who just peeked inside the room, observing Naruto's actions. The blonde walked inside the classroom, and began to look around, under the stares of the whole class. He picked up the duster and held it in his hand while thinking. "Hmmm…" _A good choice in the duster, a perfect synchronism between the fall and the opening of the door… I'm looking at the work of a professional prankster, here… But, unfortunately for them, I'm the king. At this level…_ "There are three more traps, right?"

"!"

"!"

A lot of people went eyes wide open at this. Especially two mischievous twins. Naruto went on his knees.

"I made this same trap when I was like… 7. After the duster, the rope on the ground that…" He pulled the rope, and a bucket full of water fell from nowhere and two arrows were shot in oblique to the point where the falling man should have been. "Release the bucket and the arrows. A little masterpiece… If I wasn't the new teacher's guardian I would actually praise you…" And that's when the proof of the fact that Naruto can't act cool for more than two seconds when he was not caught into something became a truth. He pointed to the two girls he had seen boiling in rage when he disabled the traps, laughing at them. "Ah! As if! You'll need years of practice to get to my level!"

"Ehm… N-Neil-san, is it safe?"

"Of course. Come in, Negi. Shizuna-neechan." Negi and the older woman walked in, and suddenly, a girl with long blond hair raised her hand.

"Ehm… Shizuna-sensei, are you going to be our new…"

"No, Yukihiro-san. He is going to be your new sensei." She then turned to Negi. "Negi-kun, introduce yourself."

"Ehm… Right." Naruto made way for the younger kid, who walked behind his desk and swallowed, before talking. "U-Um… I'm… I'm… My name is Negi Springfield. From today onwards, I'll be teaching mag-… Uh… English at this school. I'll only be here for three terms, but it's nice to meet you all."

"And I'm his guardian. The name's Neil Summergale!" Naruto pointed to himself with his right thumb, grinning like he usually did.

"…"

Silence. Complete silence. A complete silence while the girls stared at the two young boys… And then hell broke loose with an almost collective 'Kyaaaaaaaaaaa! He's so cute!'.

"!" Even if Naruto was supposed to defend Negi, he didn't dare to get in the way of the cuteness-crazed girls, who suddenly swarmed Negi, and suddenly began to pester him with hugs and questions. "… Well, it's not a life threatening situation, so… Ouch!"

It seemed that not all the girls joined the hug-fest. Some remained seated for a reason or another. Like, the two twins, who had just hit Naruto behind the head with a bag. Naruto turned towards them glaring… And the two twin girls just stuck out their tongues at him.

"… Why, you…"

"H-Hey!"

"!"

Naruto was about to beat the shit out of the two brats, or at least try to do so, when Negi's voice called him back to his… Duty. The girl from before, Asuna… Had grabbed Negi by the scarf and was shaking him while asking for explanation about him taking the place of the beard-man from before and what had happened with her clothes.

"H-Hey! Let him go!"

"Eh? Mind your own business!" Asuna shot back. Naruto just got angrier and approached Asuna, trying to pull off her arms from Negi. But to no avail… It seemed like the girl was as strong as him. But a ninja was supposed to be stronger than a normal person…

"I'm his guardian, you know! This is my business!" _What the hell is with her strength? Does she train strangling children everyday?_

"L-Leave me alone! I want a clear explanation…" _What the… He's younger than me, but I'm struggling to keep my hand on the brat?_ "And by the way, you're strange too! How can you be someone's guardian when you're just twelve?! You're supposed to go to junior high, at this age! Don't your parents tell you anything?!"

"BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"?"

Everyone turned towards Konoka, who had broken down in tears again.

"S-Sniff… Asuna, Neil-san doesn't have any living relative… He's been alone from birth… PROOOOOOOOOOOOT!" Naruto sweatdropped again. He felt sorry for the poor tissue… Suddenly he felt in danger when lots of girls from the classroom, the same ones who had hugged Negi before, turned towards him with tears in their eyes. And even more suddenly, he was in the middle of another hug fest, with tears, this time.

"Noooo! Poor thing!"

"Is it true?! You never met your parents?!"

"Ehm… No…"

"And you lived alone since birth?!"

"Well, I spent the first five years in the orphanage… Then I moved out to live on my own…"

"Waaaah! That must have been so hard for youuu!"

_B-Breath… I can't breath… __There are too many…_

"…" _Well, it seems that we are welcome… But I don't know why, but I feel like we're both in danger, Naruto-san…_

"Everyone, return to your seat. You're making trouble for sensei and his guardian."

In the meanwhile, one girl among the ones who had stayed in their seats, was observing the blonde with a more careful eye than most of the class… She knew that there was a couple things about this 'Neil' that she wouldn't be the only one to notice, but she was certain that she was the first one to do so.

… _His hands… This is no ordinary boy, de gozaru…_

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Sigh… I guess I failed my first lesson…"

"All because of that Gorilla-girl… Seriously, what's with her? She acts like a brat…"

Naruto and Negi were sitting by a fountain in the middle of the school grounds. And Naruto couldn't help but feel the urge to get revenge.

"Alright! That girl is on the top of my hit-list, after those twins! I'll beat them to a…"

"T-That would be too much, Naruto-san… She's still my student…"

"Yep. A student that you gave horns in the class roll… By the way, where are you going to work on my situation? Eh?"

"Right…" Negi got out of his pocket the 'Naruto card', like they had begun to call it. "Well, I already got something out of the way. Whatever it happened, it wasn't a life threatening spell."

"Hm? How do you know?" Naruto blinked.

"Well, first, because to cast a curse you need to be full of ill-intention towards that person… And second, I don't have the ability yet to summon the magic power needed to cast a curse…"

"… SO, YOU'RE TELLING ME I CAME HERE FOR NOTHING?!"

"N-No! Even if it's not life threatening, it could… For example, it could a curse that morphs you into an ermine each time you get out of a certain range…"

"…"

"_I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Mighty ermine-morphing __power ran… Ehm, ninja! And I'm gonna kick your ass with the ermines' power!"_

"Ehm… Yes. That would be bad… Uh?"

Naruto turned into a certain direction, and Negi followed his gaze. They saw a girl walking with an enormous pile of books in her hands.

"Isn't that a girl from your class?"

"Yep, she's… Miyazaki Nodoka-san… But isn't it dangerous to walk around with such an high… !!!" Negi couldn't finish his sentence because, like he thought, Nodoka tripped and began to fall to the ground from her raised position. "I knew it!"

"Darn! We've got to… Uh?"

Negi acted before Naruto. He unleashed his staff and gained a burst of speed that let him catch Nodoka before she hit the ground, all in the few seconds before she hit the ground.

"… Wow… That was cool!" Naruto ran to Negi's side. "You can do stuff like that too?!"

"Well, yes. I… !!!"

"? AH! THE GORILLA-GIRL!"

"…"

Asuna would have beat the shit out of Naruto for sure, if her attention wasn't focused on what Negi had just done. So, she picked up the younger kid and his stuff and ran away.

"H-Hey! Where the hell are you taking Negi?!"

"S-Sensei? What…"

"Ah?"

Naruto turned around. The girl was unhurt, it seemed.

"Are you alright? Can you stand?"

"I think so… Ahi!"

"Ahi… I think you sprained your ankle…"

"It's… It's nothing, I can walk on it…"

"…" Naruto looked at the girl and at direction where Negi had run to… The girl needed help, but Negi too… He turned around, so that he would be giving Nodoka a good vision of his back. He made a single hand-seal, and a bit far, inside a tree, a Kage Bunshin came to life. _This should do it…_ Then, he offered Nodoka his hand to get back on her feet. And then, he picked up all her books. "Come on. Where were you supposed to bring all these things?"

"Ah… It's alright, I…"

"Nope. Not a chance I'm going to let you fall again. It was a good thing Negi and me were around. Just lead the way."

"…" Nodoka blushed a little, embarrassed that she probably shouldn't have been walking around with all those books, like Neil-san said. "A-Alright. The library is this way…"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"… Damn…"

Naruto had never been a book type of guy, but even he couldn't stay unimpressed. That library was huge and full of books of every kind.

"This place is amazing… I've never seen this many books in the same place…"

"Our academy has a long story. It has been founded by Europeans long ago. That's why we have this many books… But, on Library Island there are thousands of times more…"

"… Library Island? As in, an entire Island full of books?!" Naruto went wide eyed at that.

"Y-Yes. And it has many underground levels too… Some even unexplored. No one knows how many books there really are… That's what the Library Exploration Group tries to do. We want to map every level of the island."

"That sounds cool…" Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Eh. It's a shame I don't like books. I could have joined…"

"!" Nodoka looked a bit taken back by this. "You… You don't like books?"

"Naaah… I mean, I really don't see the sense in rea… Ding…" Naruto has been scared, as in really scared, just few times in his life… But he had never been scared like that. Nodoka had managed to become even more frightening than Sakura-chan on a bad day in two seconds, and all Naruto could see was the lower part of his face._ … Memo… Never talk bad about books around her… And is this killing intent I sense?_

"…" Nodoka walked to a shelf and climbed a little ladder. She picked a book and climbed back down. Then, she picked out a paper from a desk. She handed them both to Naruto. "Take them."

"Ehm… As I said, I…"

"TAKE. THEM." Naruto picked the two objects out of Nodoka's hands so fast that he would have put a certain green beast to shame. He observed them. The book was called 'Don Quixote'… And the paper was a form… A form to join the Library Exploration Club. "You will read. And you will join."

"Ehm… Thanks?"

"Good." Nodoka returned to her usual timid self. "Now, should we return to the classroom? They're waiting for you and Negi-sensei."

"Uh? Waiting for us?"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Welcome, Negi-sensei! Welcome, Neil-san!"

"Wow…"

If Naruto had been surprised when he had seen Negi walking alongside the Gorilla-girl without being strangled, he now was very, very surprised. They had thrown a welcome party for him and Negi. They practically dragged him in and put a party hat on his head and a drink in his right hand.

"Alright! An interview is due, Neil-san!" Suddenly, a girl dropped in front of him, holding in her hands a pen and a block notes. "I'm Asakura Kazumi! Number 3 of the class roll and number 4 in the breast rating!"

"Ehm…" Naruto blushed. "It's a pleasure, but… Was the info about your breast size really necessary?"

"Of course it was! Now, to the interview. How old are you?"

"Twelve."

"Things you like and things you don't like?"

"RAMEN!" Immediately shouted Naruto, surprising even his interviewer. "And Sa…" _Ehm… Maybe it's better if I don't tell anyone about my real past… Or bonds…_

"Sa? Sa-what?"

"Ehm… Sashimi. And what I hate is the three minutes for the ramen to be ready…"

"Eheheh… Understood… Now, THE question. Do you have a girlfriend?" Kazumi grinned like a Cheshire cat, and Naruto blushed a lot.

"Ehm… No." _I like Sakura-chan, but… I wonder when I'll see her again…_

"Good! Now, what do you like in a girl?"

"Ehm… What kind of interview is this?"

"Sorry to interrupt you two, Kazumi-san… But I need to have a word with Neil-san."

"Eh?"

Naruto turned around, and he saw… An enormous girl. From what Negi had told him, all the girls in his class were 14, but this girl was… Very tall, for a 14 years old. Very tall and… What was the word? Voluptuous. And why did she keep her eyes closed like that?

"I'm Nagase Kaede, de gozura. Can I talk with you for a moment?"

"Ehm… Sure?" Naruto got up from his seat, and when the girl began to walk away, he followed her.

"Hey! What about the interview?! … Oh, well. I suppose I can interview the baby teacher, for now… Negi-kun!"

Kaede kept on walking… And Naruto kept on following her. They went out of the classroom and into another vacant one. Only, this one was completely dark. Light came just when Kaede turned on the artificial one. The windows were all closed. Kaede let Naruto walk inside the classroom before her, and the she suddenly closed the door behind them.

"Neil-san… There was something I wanted to talk to you about, de gozaru…" Suddenly said the girl, walking past Naruto.

"…" _Oh, god… If I remember right, Sasuke too was invited with a girl to a deserted classroom… He barely made it out of there alive!_ "W-W-W-What is it? I mean…"

"Well…" Kaede approached the metal closet near the far wall of the room, and she opened it... "It's about this." Revealing Naruto's Kage Bunshin tied up and gagged.

"!!! W-W-WHAT THE! MY KAGE… !" Naruto immediately covered his mouth. He was about to give his identity away.

"Hoihoihoi! I saw right, then! You're a ninja!" While saying that, Kaede kicked the Kage Bunshin hard, making it disappear. And Naruto felt royally screwed.

"N-Ninja? I don't know what you are talking about…" Naruto tried to cover for it, but Kaede just smiled in a weird way.

"No use in denying it, Neil-kun. I had a suspect when I saw your hands, but the Kage Bunshin I saw you make and I captured is a certain proof or your shinobi-tude, de gozaru."

"Eh? My hands?" Before Naruto could ask about his hands, he felt someone grabbing them from behind and showing them to himself. "!!!"

"There are a bit of small cuts, some that healed a lot of time ago. That means that you've been using sharp weapons for a long time."

"…" Naruto looked to the person to his right, the to the person to his left… There were two Kaede?! Then… "Kaede-neechan… You're a ninja too?"

"Glad you noticed…" Kaede's clone suddenly disappeared in thin air, and this made Naruto curious. Usually, they disappeared in puffs of smoke. "First, does Negi know you're a ninja?"

"No, he doesn't…" _At least, I have to keep Negi out of this… What a mess! The first day here and someone already discovered I'm a ninja… Well, she's a ninja too. I couldn't expect something like that…_

"I see. Then, second question." Kaede walked towards Naruto and got on her knees to be at his height. "What's your real name? And where do you come from?"

"That's two questions, nee-chan…"

"Ara, right. Then, your name. So? What is it? Hmm?" Kaede with each piece of sentence was approaching Naruto's face more and more. Naruto blushed and became uncomfortable.

"U-Uzumaki… Naruto…"

"Uzumaki… Never heard of a clan like that among the ones in Japan. And your Kage Bunshin was different from mine too… So, I take it you come from the Elemental Countries?"

"Uh? How do you know about them?" _Negi told me that no one knows about magic or ninjas, much less about the elemental countries…_

"Eheheh… It's a secret." Said Kaede, finally slyly opening one eye and bringing a finger to her lips.

"Well, no fair, then. I have to tell you everything and you don't tell me anything in return?!" Naruto, even if he had been discovered, wasn't the kind of guy to not complain. Kaede just chuckled.

"Right, right… Then, what about we make an agreement?"

"Uh? What kind of agreement?" Naruto blinked. This nee-chan was becoming more mysterious by the second.

"What about we tell each other everything? But not here. What about you come with me somewhere on Saturday morning?" Naruto scratched his nose. Kaede had gotten him, so… It's not like he was in the position to refuse. If he was exposed it could mean troubles for Negi too.

"Alright… Just, don't tell anyone! And keep on calling me Neil in front of the others!"

"Alright, alright. Neil-kun and Naru-bouzu, then. Now, let's go back to the classroom before they start believing I brought you here to do ecchi things."

"…" Naruto blushed. "Kaede-neechan! You're an ero-nin!"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the class were over, and after lunch, it was time for returning back home. Negi and Naruto met up again, and they told each other everything that had happened that day.

"… Say it again."

"I got discovered too… By Asuna-san. But don't worry, she's a lot nicer than what she seems… OUCH!"

Naruto head-butted Negi with an autodestruction technique, almost knocking out the both of them. Their forehead were smoking even when they got back in a sitting position.

"We're both idiots…" Muttered Naruto. "This headache will be a reminder till it lasts…"

"Yes… Naruto-san, we should try to avoid using our powers/techniques… Or at least, to use them while going unnoticed by others, if not for an emergency…"

"I agree… So, I suppose she will let you stay in her apart… HEY!" Naruto forgot about his headache in a flash. "WHAT ABOUT ME?! WHERE AM I SUPPOSED TO STAY?!"

"Neil-san! We were looking for you!"

"?"

Perverted kid

De gozaru: archaic form of 'desu'

_To be continued…_

_In the next chapter:_

Naruto and Negi have to face lots of troubles in their first days at Mahora. Mostly because of girls. Lots of girls. Will they be able to make it trough? Stay tuned.


	2. Second Hour

Disclaimer: I don't Naruto or Negi Magister Magi

Disclaimer: I don't Naruto or Negi Magister Magi.

Wow. This story got really liked! I'm happy of that! I thank of all you! But enough thanking my wonderful readers! Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

"_My name is Negi Springfield. I'm a mage in training. I was heading to a foreign country called Japan to begin my first assignment, but I had to stop here to refresh my energy reserves for the trip. Earlier, I don't know why, a spell has been cast that somewhat tied yourself to me, but I don't know what it is or what it does do."_

"_Yes. And I'm a freaking immortal with five hearts and strange black rope things in the place of my bones, muscles, and inner organs."_

"_You… You don't like books?"_

"_Naaah… I mean, I really don't see the sense in rea… Ding…"_

"_TAKE. THEM. __You will read. And you will join."_

"_Ehm… Thanks?"_

"_!! W-W-WHAT THE! MY KAGE… !"_

"_Hoihoihoi! I saw right, then! You're a ninja!"_

**Pactio!**

**Second hour: Libraries, Ninjas, and Cheerleaders**

_No boy, no cry, one two three GO!_

_Shonenyooo… Kitekureee…_

If Naruto was just waking up, he would have felt a strange attraction to the song played by the alarm clock in the room… But the problem is, he had waken up from like… Two hours before, and he hadn't been able to move or do anything from that moment. Just staring at the ceiling with his face red like a tomato. All because of the three girls who were currently using him as a pillow, who had suddenly decided, during the night, that it was a good idea to sleep all together in the same bed… Or better, futon. But let's go with order…

_The previous evening_

"_Neil-san! We were looking for you!"_

"_?"_

_Naruto turned around at the mention of his alias and he ended up facing three girls with a familiar face… Yes, they were Negi's students too._

"_Ehm… Sorry, but I don't remember your names… I'm not that good at immediately associating names and faces…" Naruto scratched the back of his head, a little embarrassed. The girls just smiled. No, they were practically beaming._

"_It's not really a problem! We haven't been properly introduced yet! I'm Kakizaki Misa!"_

"_Kugimiya Madoka."_

"_And Shiina Sakurako! And…" The third girl, with the strange pig-tails, handed to Naruto a letter. Naruto read it. It was from the principal ojii-san… And his eyes suddenly went wide._

"_I'm… You mean, I'm supposed to stay with you three in your room till they find another room for me?!"_

And that led the three to a little fight about who was going to let Naruto sleep in her bed. Naruto just took the initiative and decided to sleep in a futon on the floor… He woke up later because of some hair on his nose. And he woke up with all the three girls on him. Seems like the cheerleaders (Negi had passed him some information from the class scroll before he was literally dragged away) had decided to share… Him. And he had not managed to get back to sleep, and he didn't want to wake them either... As much as he wanted to. And now, the alarm clock had just gone off. Sakurako, who was the one with her arms around his neck and her right cheek against his left one, was the first one to react.

"Mhhh…" She slowly opened her eyes, and grinned slightly at Naruto. "Good morning, Neil-san…"

"MORNING! GOTTA GO TO THE BATHROOM!" Naruto disappeared in a flash. He had decided he would go the bathroom the moment one of the girls woke up. Madoka and Misa woke up as well, at the feeling of their human cushion suddenly gone.

"Mmmmh… Where did he go?" Said Madoka while rubbing her eyes.

"Where's my chest-modeled cushion? I want to sleep a bit more…" Misa still hadn't woke up completely, and was waving her arms in search of Naruto.

--

"I don't think I'm gonna survive another night like the last one…"

"Well, it was quite the opposite with me. I was the one who sneaked into Asuna's bed…"

"… Ero-youji."

"I'm not like thaaaat…"

Naruto thanked Negi for being like he was. It was nice to tease him about his supposed erotic tendencies... While thinking that he was going to be forcefully trained into self-control, if they didn't find a room for him soon.

"Well, there's still a bit before classroom, and I need to go to meet the other teachers. I'll see you in class, Naruto-san." And with that, Negi excused himself and was away. Naruto looked at his wat… Wait a minute. Since when did he have a watch? He looked closely… It was a custom one with a pic of the three cheerleaders in the background. He sweatdropped. Those girls had probably put it on him while he was sleeping. He sighed and looked at the time, using his will to not stare at the suggestive posing girls. There was still like, forty-five minutes before Negi's class started. What to do… Then, he remembered of something. He opened the small bag they had provided him with, and got something out of it… The book that freaky girl had given him.

"I better start reading this… That girl is scary… Even if I probably will not like it." He opened the first page and started reading while heading for the classroom…

--

And he hadn't stopped reading for the whole forty-five minutes and the duration of Negi's class. Naruto had been like captured by the damn pages. While he read, everything else had been put into auto, like shielding himself and Negi from the twins' pranks. He did all of it unconsciously while he kept on reading. At one point he even went to the bathroom while still reading the thing, under the incredulous stares of all the class and a chuckling Nodoka… An evil chuckling Nodoka, something that scared the shit out of everyone in the room.

After class ended, Naruto had kept on following Negi while reading. By lunchtime, he had finished the book. And he finally let out all the laughs he had kept in till that moment, before digging into the food.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! This book was good! Too bad for the ending… It was somewhat sad…"

"Naruto-san, where did you get that book?"

"Ehm… Let's say that… Nodoka-chan gave it to me yesterday."

"Neil-san. Negi-sensei…"

Talk of the devil… The shy librarian had just like, appeared out of nowhere along with two other girls by her side. They were both in Negi's class too… One was very short with blue hair, the other one had glasses and long black hair.

"I take you liked the book I gave you, Neil-san?" Said Nodoka smiling, and with a little more confidence than usual. It looked like literature was the one argument where she didn't feel insecure about doing anything.

"It was awesome, Nodoka-chan! Too bad for the ending… But it made me laugh a lot. After lunch I'll come to return it to the library!" Nodoka smiled at Naruto… And then her scary face was back for an instant. Naruto almost jumped out of his seat. Fortunately, Negi was drinking a glass of water in the meanwhile, so he missed the thing.

"And about the other thing?" Said the girl with her usual sweet voice. Naruto was still semi-paralyzed. The girl had opted to make her left eye visible, that day. Her stare… Naruto gulped and remembered of that piece of paper. In a flash he picked it out of the bag, signed it and handed it to Nodoka.

"H-Here you go." Naruto laughed nervously while the girl examined the piece of paper. Nodoka suddenly blinked a couple of times.

"Eh? Why did you sign yourself as… Uzumaki Naruto?"

"!!"

"!!"

Negi almost chocked on his food at that.

_DARNDARNDARN!! I have to think of something rightnowrightnowrightnow…_

"Ehm… It's the name I use when… When I travel! Yeah, that's it! I've become so used to it that I sign like that even when I don't have to! Ahahahahah!" Naruto laughed even more nervously. Nodoka just blinked more. She didn't seem so persuaded, and neither were her two friends… But Negi came as a savior.

"Ehm… Nodoka-san, you changed your hair-style, today? It really suits you!"

"Uh?" Nodoka suddenly blushed. And even more suddenly her two friends uncovered her face completely.

"It does, doesn't it?!"

"She has such a cute face, but she shows so little of it…"

"Ah!" Nodoka blushed even more and ran away.

"Ah, wait, Nodoka!" Glasses was immediately after her, while Yue stayed behind one moment and handed Naruto something.

"This is a map for Library Island. We meet on Tuesday and Friday at 3:00 PM at the entrance. Welcome to the Library Expedition Club, Neil-san." And with that, the short girl ran after Nodoka as well, leaving Naruto and Negi alone again. The two sighed deeply in relief and slumped in their seats.

"That was close… Darn! I have to be more careful!" Said the blonde while examining the map the short girl gave him.

"Yeah… Ah! I almost forgot! I have to go and prepare the love potion for Asuna!"

"… Love potion?" Naruto stared at Negi like he had just grown a second head.

"Yeah! I can make it using some pills grandpa gave me before… OW!" Naruto had punched Negi in the head, and he started screaming while whispering, as difficult as that can be.

"You just said that I'm the one who needs to be more careful, and you were going to prepare a freaking love potion for a girl?! Are you stupid?! Won't anyone suspect anything if someone suddenly falls head over heels for that gorilla-girl?!"

"Ouch… You're right, you're right… Awww, I still have a long way to go before becoming like my dad…" Negi rubbed his head while saying this, and the last sentence had caught Naruto's attention.

"Uh? Your father?"

"Yes… My father is the man called the Thousand Master. He's the most powerful mage ever existed!" Then the kid pointed at the staff on his back. "It's him who gave me this staff. My dream is to become like him."

"Mhhh… We're similar in that. Myself, I want to become as strong as the strongest ninja ever existed… No, even stronger than him! Even stronger than the fourth Hokage! He was so strong that in the end he even defeated a demon to defend the village!" Suddenly, right after boasting his pride at being been born in the same village as the fourth Hokage, Naruto suddenly sighed sad for a lot of things combined together. First, the said demon was sealed inside his stomach. He instinctively brought a hand to his navel. Second, he had left his village, and who knows what would happen when he would go back there… And who knows if he could still be allowed to be a ninja.

"Wow! That sounds cool!" But he suddenly raised his head, hearing Negi's sudden interest. "A demon, you say?! What kind of demon?!"

"Ehm… I just know its name…" Naruto grinned nervously. He had discovered about the thing in him just by a few days, after all. It still made him a little uncomfortable to talk about it. "It was said to be the most powerful of all the demons… The Kyuubi no Youko. The nine-tailed demon fox."

"The nine-tailed… Hey, I think I studied it when I was at my magic school."

"! What?! Really?!" Naruto really got surprised by this.

"Yeah… We had some demonology classes as well… Yes, I'm sure I've read about it somewhere…"

"…" _I just hope that he doesn't discover about its current whereabouts…_

--

After lunch, Naruto and Negi stayed together for a while, trying to do some research about the spell that had affected the blonde ninja, but they didn't get much about it. And at 2:30, Naruto suddenly remembered of the… Promise, let's call it like that, made to Nodoka. He walked a bit, before reaching library island. And when Nodoka had described it, she wasn't kidding that whole island was a library for real. It was 2:50, and the only other person there was the short girl from before.

"Ah, hello. I'm a bit early?"

"Yes, but it's no problem. Haruna is still running after Nodoka, I suppose. I wasn't able to catch up with them." Then, the girl offered Naruto her hand. "By the way, my name is Nagase Yue."

"It's a pleasure, Yue-chan. I really should study that class roll, hn?"

"Probably…" Naruto sweatdropped. That girl hadn't changed much of her expression, while talking to him.

"Ehm… Something's the…"

"Neeeeeeeeil-san!"

"!! AHHHHH!" Naruto jumped behind a bush near him and Yue, under the interrogative stare of the blue haired girl. The blonde stuck out his head one more time. "If they ask, I ran that way!" And he hid completely again. Yue sweatdropped and turned around… To see the cheerleader trio of her class approaching.

"Yue-chan! Was that Neil-san, just now? Where did he go?" Asked Sakurako, the most cheerful of the three. Yue nodded and pointed to a random direction as requested by Naruto. The three girls muttered a silent 'Thank you' and ran in that direction as well.

"… You can come out, now." Naruto breathed a deep sigh of relief and did as told. Yue stared at the blonde for a bit, before talking again. "Why did you hide?"

"Because I'm certain that I would have died a slow death… By bloodloss." Naruto shivered in fear while Yue just blinked. Then, she looked at her wristwatch.

"How strange… They're never late… Maybe something happened to Nodoka and Haruna?" Naruto blinked at that.

"As in, they could be in danger?"

"No, not that way… They have probably been delayed by something… Well, I suppose we're on our own for now. Shall we go?"

"Ehm… Alright." Naruto walked beside Yue while she led him inside library island. It was the first level… And already, it was a magnificent scenery. Naruto couldn't help but go 'Wow' in front of the enormous forests of shelves and books. "This place is amazing…"

"It has never been explored fully. Currently, there's no one alive who knows what's inside every level of the island." Yue picked out something from a nearby desk. It was a exploring gear. A map, a compass and a torch. "You never know when you can get lost, here… But we won't go exploring unknown levels yet. You're new to these kind of things, and there's just the two of us, after all… Let's say that I'll just give you a tour of the place, for now."

"Alright…"

Yue began to show Naruto the first level, showing himself the various sections. It was like showing a district and its shops. There were so many that Naruto almost got an headache, but, fortunately, the map had notes on that too. But, really. It was like every book of the world could be in there.

"Eheheh… This place is amazing…" Naruto grinned. Yue put on a smile at that.

"And you still haven't seen the lower levels… There are books about every argument, it is said. Tales tell of books about demonology and magic as well."

"I wouldn't be surprised if there was stuff about ninjas as well…"

"…" Yue blinked at that. "Actually… Yes, it is said to be a thing like that.

"Eh?! Really?!" Seeing Naruto's enthusiastic reaction, Yue decided to show him that 'thing'.

"Follow me."

Yue guided Naruto in the central part of the first level library. On a wall, there was a heavy, big, metal door. On its sides, stood two statues. And Naruto couldn't help but think to have already seen the faces of the two individuals somewhere. The door could be opened by pushing only, it seemed, since there were no handles or anything to pull on.

"This is what we call 'The portal' to the Ninja section. Behind this door there's a large corridor that leads to somewhere deep in the lower levels. The surprising thing is that you can't access it from one of the lower levels. From what we know, the corridor leads to the Hidden Ninja section."

"Wow! This is so cool!" Naruto's eyes sparkled. He remembered of the forbidden scroll he had stolen from jii-san house, from which he had learned Kage Bunshin. Who knows what could be in that place… He began to push the doors. Yue flinched at that.

"Ah! You shouldn't!"

"Eh? Why is that?" Too late. Naruto had already began to push the doors, which then opened on their own. And suddenly, what looked liken an enormous plastic hammer swung down from the ceiling inside the corridor and knocked Naruto away for some meters. "SPEEEEEURGH!"

Yue sighed and hurried after him, while the doors closed again. She kneeled beside him.

"That's why, Neil-san. The corridor is full of traps. And from what we managed to see, only the hammer is always the same. The other ones change each time we open the door."

"Ahiahiahi…" Naruto had swirl in his eyes for a while. Then, he shook his head and awakened again.

"Probably…" Yue had picked out a packed juice out of nowhere, and had started drinking it. "Just a real ninja could get inside there."

"… That's it! I swear I'm going to get to the end of that corridor!" The blonde got back on his feet in a flash and sprinted towards the door again. Pushing it open again. This time he dodged the hammer, and ran past it.

"…" Yue just kept on drinking her juice and watch Naruto activating an arrow-throwing trap, a gloved punch, and finally an explosive one who sent him back to her feet face first, smoking like a bad roasted turkey. "We have never been able to get down there. The traps aren't lethal per se, but… If you keep on…"

"AARGH!" Naruto was up in a flash again, charging at the door. Yue sighed and waited for the ten seconds need for Naruto to get back at her feet.

"… On doing this, you will die for sure…"

"… Alright, that's it!" Naruto did a hand-seal and began gathering chakra. "Kage…"

"? Kage what?"

"Kage… Ah!" Naruto stopped just in time. Right. He couldn't use Kage Bunshin without exposing himself. And it had already happened once… So, goodbye to the plan 'send the copies in first and make them activate the traps in his place', and that meant… _To get down those traps… I will have to dodge all of them myself?! AAAAAARGH!_

"…" Yue just finished her juice while watching Naruto silently screaming. _Interesting guy…_

In the end, Nodoka and Haruna arrived an hour and twelve other tries of trap-dodging late. Naruto was reduced to a smoking amount of injuries, by then. It seems that something had happened, and everyone suddenly got the hots for Negi. Naruto, if able to move, would have shook his head and said 'ero-youji' under his breath, but he had to go for a single twitch of his right index finger, instead.

And in the end, the girls had to carry him back to his room in the dorms when it became too late. The cheerleaders' room was fortunately on the same floor of their one. Nodoka knocked at the door.

"Coming!" The door opened to reveal Madoka. "Ah, Nodoka! What… … NEIL-SAN?!"

"Neil-san is here? Where… OH KAMI-SAMA!" Sakurako had hurried at the door as well… And she immediately got worried as well when she saw Naruto's state.

"What happened?! What happened to… NEIL-SAN!" And of course, Misa was needed to complete the trio.

"Some incidents involving his stubbornness and a corridor full of traps." Replied Yue, stoic.

"Aww… Well, I know what to do!" Said Sakurako while snuggling against Naruto's cheek.

"Bath?" Asked Misa, grinning.

"Bath!" Cheered Madoka. Nodoka and Yue flushed.

"Can I come as well?!" Said Haruna, cheerful as well. Naruto regained enough strength to mutter something.

"B-Bath?"

--

"Aaaaaah… I really needed this…"

Naruto immediately felt like being reborn after dropping himself into the hot water of the dorm's hot springs. The girls had been very gentle… Maybe too much. Helping him to reach the place was ok, helping him out of his clothes… So and so, but when they tried to help him out of his boxers too, he freaked out again.

"Hmmm… I'm recovering really quick, I must say…" Naruto flexed the fingers of his hand. His whole strength had almost returned. And that was a wonder, when just half an hour before he had been exploded, cut, hit, smashed and thrown around… Fourteen times in a row. And he hadn't been able to progress for more than five meters, in the corridor. "Now that I think about it… I've always healed faster than predicted from everything… And I can't remember a time I caught a cold." _… Is this because of the… Kyuubi?_ "Or like that time I broke my arm… It should have been a month before it healed completely, but it healed in a week. Jii-san was really surprised, at the time…" Naruto raised his head and looked at the sky. "Speaking of jii-san… I wonder if he's worried about me… And Ayame-neechan and Teuchi-jiisan?"

--

In that same moment, in Konoha, the sandaime Hokage was facing a really worried Iruka, and two stoic ANBUs. Naruto had disappeared three days before, the evening before the day the graduates would have been split into teams. That had really worried Iruka, since Naruto would have dragged himself to the place with just two fingers, if he had had to. Sarutobi shared his worries, so he sent ANBUs to search for him. They didn't found Naruto. But when they inspected his apartment they found some strange things. First, Naruto had packed his things up. The house was vacant of all his personal things. Second, it had been cleaned like one cleans his house when he knows that he will be away from it for a long time. So, everything told the Hokage that… Naruto had willingly left the village the day before his final graduation… And that didn't make any sense.

"…" The old Hokage stroked his beard with his right hand a little.

"What could have happened?" Iruka was looking at the ground, playing with his fingers. "And most important… It's impossible that no one saw him leave the village. Especially in Naruto's case. He has never been a genius, in stealth… It's like… It's like he has disappeared in thin air."

"Mmmmh…" Suddenly, Sarutobi opened one of his drawers and picked a sealed enveloped out of it. He handed it to one of the ANBUs, who bowed, looked at the seal and disappeared along with his colleague. "Yeah… But, I'm sure of one thing… Naruto has left of his own will."

"But that doesn't make sense, Sandaime-sama! Being a ninja was everything to him, and head finally managed to pass the final exam… It's…"

"I'm not saying that Naruto suddenly had a change of hearth, Iruka. That's very unlikely, knowing how stubborn he is." Iruka calmed down, hearing that. "What I mean… Something has happened that forced him to leave the village."

"… Maybe…"

"No." Sandaime cut Iruka off. The chunin looked puzzled. "I thought about the possibility that Naruto could have been abducted by some high level missing nin knowing about his 'status', since that's the only way he could have left the village unnoticed, but there is something that proves this wrong."

"And… That is?"

"The intelligence ANBUs…" Sarutobi handed Iruka a folder. The young man opened it and began to read it. "Have gathered various proofs. Two of these made me think. First, they found two toothbrushes in Naruto's bathroom, both used… By different people. And again, some hair that didn't belong to Naruto. From the analyses, they've found out that the age of this person is… Around Naruto's age, probably younger than him. But we both know that Naruto didn't have any friends."

"… And here says… That it didn't match with the readings of any child of the village…" Iruka scratched his head. "An outsider?"

"Exactly. So, I have a theory. Something happened between Naruto and this unknown child. Something that forced Naruto to leave the village." The sandaime got up from his chair, and walked to the window. "Now… The real question is, why didn't he tell me or you anything? If whatever happened forced him to jump his graduation day, he would have told one of us for sure."

"Then…" Iruka raised his head, stopping reading the folder. "Maybe he couldn't tell us?"

"That's my thought." The sandaime observed the village outside of his office's window. Then… His stare fell upon the Yondaime's head on the mountain. He chuckled. Iruka noticed the thing.

"What's… What's funny?"

"Eheheh… I have a suspect about what has happened to Naruto…" _If it's something similar to what happened to you… Eheheh, Minato, it's really your son._ Suddenly, the ANBUs who had disappeared earlier re- appeared and gave Sarutobi back the envelope. The Sandaime opened it, looked inside… And chuckled again, this time more strongly. "It seems I was right… Be at ease, Iruka. I'm completely sure that nothing bad has happened to Naruto."

"R-Really?!" Iruka visibly relaxed at that. "How… How can you be sure?"

"Eheheh… I can't tell you. Not yet…" The sandaime closed the folder again and placed it in his right pocket. "I will let you know everything as soon as I can find out about Naruto's whereabouts. And sirs, you're dismissed."

"…" The three ninjas bowed and left the room, each one with his style, be it shunshin or by feet. Once the Sandaime was sure that he was alone, he began to walk towards the room where he kept his crystal ball.

_I think it's time to use that artefact__ for other things than spying people in the village… Once again._

--

Iruka was right. Naruto hadn't practiced his stealth much… But he was wishing he had done so. Five minutes after he got lost in thought, Negi and Asuna came into the bath… But immediately after, it was like the whole classroom had decided to meet in the hot springs. The three of them had decided to hide… But the situation was degenerating since they were like having a breast contest to decide who should keep Negi.

And Naruto had to take a decision… An hard decision. But, after all… He was supposed to be Negi's guardian. He swallowed, and then… He put his hands on Negi's shoulders, looking at him straight in the eyes.

"… Negi… Whatever happens next… I was happy to meet you…"

"E-Eh? Na…" Negi stopped himself in time, because he remembered that there was Asuna with them too. "Neil-san? What are you saying?"

"… I'll save you, Negi." He turned to Asuna. "Gori… Ehm, Asuna-neechan… I entrust Negi to you. After I distract them… I want you to get him out of here."

"…" Asuna stared back at Naruto, focusing on his eyes… They were the eyes of someone focused on his objective. Someone ready to die. She nodded. "You can count on me…"

"Thanks." Naruto got up and then… Yawned loudly. Everyone's attention switched from the discussion to the source of the yawn. Rubbing his eyes, Naruto got out of his hiding place. Asuna began to move out of the way, dragging a struggling Negi with her. "I must have fallen asleep… Uh?" Naruto looked around, staring at the scene in front of himself with a faint vacant stare… And then let out a real scream. "AAAAAAAAAAH! W-W-W-WHAT THE…"

"Neeeeeil-san! You were still here, then!" The first girls who glomped him were, of course, the three cheerleaders. Naruto did his best to keep his eyes closed, but the flesh-to-flesh contact was still there… And when he tried to back away from the girls, he found the back of his head against something big, round, and soft.

"Hoihoihoi… Neil-kun, what a surprise…"

"K-Kaede-neechan?!" _… I'm screwed…_ And that was confirmed when the girl hugged him from behind.

"Ara… Seems like we intruded on your bath… Let use make us up for it…"

"YEAH! LET'S HAVE A 'RUB NEIL-SAN CONTEST!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Negi and Asuna had managed to get out of there in time, but Negi still struggled because he wanted to help Naruto.

"LET ME GO! HE NEEDS OUR HELP!"

"YOU WANT TO MAKE VAIN HIS SACRIFICE?!"

--

"Hmmm… Heaven smells nice…"

"Ara… I'm glad you like my scent, Naru-bouzu…"

"E-Eh?" Naruto slowly opened his eyes. His head was in Kaede's lap, and he noticed that they were both clothed again.

"You sure pulled a stunt, down there. You're brave, de gozaru…" Naruto blushed and slowly got back in a sitting position. He observed his surroundings. They were on the roof of the dorms, just above the giant bath, and he could see the other girls still making a fuss about rubbing… Something.

"You got me out of there, Kaede-neechan?"

"That's right, de gozaru. They've been rubbing a bucket from the moment you fell unconscious." Naruto blushed. That meant that he had got in at least a minute of rubbing. "But really… You surprised me, Naru-bouzu."

"Eh?" Naruto blinked at this.

"I didn't expect for a twelve years old to be that well endowed, ara!" Said the ninja girl like it was the most normal thing in the world. Naruto blushed deep red, at that.

"K-KAEDE-NEECHAN! WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?! NO, WHY DID YOU LOOK IN THE FIRST PLACE?!"

"Well, I was getting you dressed, I couldn't help it, ara…"

"Y-YOU ERO-KUNOICHI!"

"Arararara…" Kaede suddenly put a hand on Naruto's head. "Naru-bouzu, I remember that you promised to come with me somewhere, on Saturday. Be sure to be up at 5 o clock, alright?"

"Eh? Y-Yes…"

"Good. Goodnight." Kaede kissed Naruto's forehead and disappeared, leaving a blushing and dumbfounded Naruto on the roof of the dorms.

--

After that, nothing much happened during the week, apart that, on Friday, Naruto returned to library island and tried to go against the corridor again… In the end, he progressed two meters with twenty tries, before passing out. That made seven meters in total.

And on Saturday… Like Kaede had asked him, he was up at five o' clock. He had told Negi about the thing, of course… But he was so not going to tell his roomies, even if they had calmed down enough to take turns at night-glomping him. He snuck out of the embrace of that night's host, Sakurako… But the girl immediately began to struggle looking for him. So, like Asuna had suggested him when he asked for tips, he put a pillow in her arms and kissed her cheek. The girl immediately calmed down.

Once he got ready, he opened the door and walked slowly out, closing the door behind him.

"Ready, Naru-bouzu?!"

"AAAAAAH!" Naruto jumped high in the air. How the hell did she… "… You're very good at stealth, Kaede-neechan…"

"Ara, thanks, Naru-bouzu. Well, follow me." Kaede jumped from the dorms down into the still dark road. Naruto followed suit. Who knows where they were heading…

--

"Alright… We've arrived on a mountain…"

"Ara."

"We've fished using our bare hands or doing acrobatics… That I couldn't do. That explains the bumps on my head."

"Ara."

"And we even climbed cliffs and fought with bears bare handed… And that I can still understand…"

"Ara."

"BUT WHY THE HELL ARE WE BATHING TOGETHER?! KAEDE-NEECHAN!"

"Ararara… You shy, naive Naru-bouzu…"

Yep. Because, like Naruto said, after an entire day of training, Kaede-style, the two were really bathing together in a narrow space known as a barrel full of hot water. And Naruto, even if he was turned around, facing the same direction as Kaede, still possessed his touch. He was sure that Kaede was in the top 3 of the breast rating that reporter-neechan had told him about. And while he blushed as red as a tomato, Kaede was clearly enjoying every second of the tease.

"… Whatever." Naruto just sighed. Better change the subject of the discussion. "Well, today, while we were talking, I told you about almost everything of the elemental countries and myself…"

"Indeed. Those countries have changed a lot… At least from how they were described in the stories my grandpa told me." Naruto scratched the back of his head, and was about to turn around… But the softness behind his neck told him that it wasn't a really good idea.

"W-Well… It's your turn to talk, Kaede-neechan…" The girl chuckled a little at Naruto's expenses, then decided to talk.

"I don't know a lot about it. Never had a good memory for these things… But basically, my clan moved to Japan from the elemental countries because they didn't like the changes. From what I can guess, it was around the time the ninjas were becoming closer to what they are right now. In origin, ninjas were assassins… And as wrong as that can sound, my clan wanted the things to stay like that. Ara…" Kaede rubbed the back of her head, laughing a little nervously. Naruto thought about it. There was another question.

"And what about your Kage Bunshin? Why is it different from mine? You don't even make handseals to make it…"

"Well, we can say that… Mine is probably the original version of the technique." Kaede rubbed her chin, a sly expression on her face. "While yours have all the same strength as the user, they get taken out in a single hit. Mine can sustain some damage, but it requires a lot of training to make the copies as strong as the user. Also, I can't make as much as you… 1000 copies of yourself is impressive. If they lasted like mine, you could probably take on an army all on yourself! Hoihoihoi!" Naruto rubbed the back of his head, a little embarrassed by the subtle praise… But Kaede decided to play with it a little. "And think about the stuff you could do with girls, with all those copies!"

"…" Naruto blushed even more and disappeared underwater. The ninja girl laughed at his antics… And then hugged him close to her chest. "K-Kaede-neechan!"

"Hmmm… Tonight, you're gonna be my teddy, Naru-bouzu…"

"… Am I really that good of a teddy?" Naruto just couldn't get what made him better than a stuffed animal. Then, he remembered something else. "Ah! I almost forgot! I found something strange in the library!"

"Ara?"

Naruto began to tell Kaede what had happened to him in the library the other day, and about the booby-trapped corridor. The girl rubbed her chin in thought.

"Hmmm… It's interesting, de-gozaru… A section just about ninjas."

"So?! Shall we try to go trough the corridor together, Kaede-neechan?" Naruto even turned around, this time, expecting Kaede to jump for joy at the thought of having a library full of scrolls and informations about ninjas at her disposal…

"Ara… Sorry, but I think you should try on your own, Naru-bouzu." She replied calmly.

"Eh?! Why?!" Naruto immediately freaked out.

"Because, like Yue-chan said, only a true ninja could get past all those traps. And if you're not able to go trough it, don't you think that getting there with my help would be cheating? Because I'm pretty confident that I could get past the traps you described to me." Naruto was about to reply to that… When he found out that he couldn't. Well, a little reply, he had.

"B-But! I have a way of doing it in mind, already! But I can't use my jutsus in front of other people!"

"Then… Don't do it while you're with the library exploration club. Do it when no one's around. But, if you want my opinion… You should try to do it without using the 'meat-shields' tactic, ara." At this, Naruto blinked. "After all… I think that whoever built that thing, and it must have been a great ninja, made it when it wasn't still in use, the Kage Bunshin." _Probably a big lie. Ararara… But Naru-bouzu really needs some Taijutsu training._ Kaede snickered mentally. "Wouldn't it be a little unfair? Cheating, maybe?"

"Hmmm…" Naruto grunted. It seemed that, after all, it was a matter between him and that corridor.

"And by the way, Naru-bouzu…" Naruto blinked at that… And he noticed that Kaede was a little flushed, and had one eye open. "You've been holding on my breasts since you said 'trough the corridor together'…"

"…" Naruto slowly lowered his gaze to his hands… And found that Kaede was indeed right. He jumped out of the barrel and towards his clothes and the tent so fast that when he was inside the tent, the water he had raised still hadn't fallen back into the barrel. Kaede, in return, just smiled mischievously in his direction.

_He has a good sense of touch, though, ara… He was unconsciously kneading them too… I think he would have fainted, if I told him. Arararara…_

In the meanwhile, someone was observing the scene from afar, trough a device (basically a camera with wings) built by her aid. And she had palmed her face at that scene.

"Two complete idiots…" _And I still haven't found out what's with that strange evil energy that blondie gives away…_

--

The Sandaime had used his crystal ball. And he had made an interesting talk with an old acquaintance of him. Like most of the times in his life, modesty be damned, he had been right. He had managed to guess Naruto's location, and after a little talk with his friend, he had asked him to monitor the young boy for a few days. He had a plan in mind. A plan that would bring benefit to the boy.

_I just hope he will be up to the challenge…_

_Continue…_

_In the next chapter…_

Life progresses for Naruto, between sexy attempts to his life, a wicked corridor, and… The Sandaime Hokage appearing in front of him! How? Stay tuned!


	3. Third Hour

Disclaimer: I don't Naruto or Negi Magister Magi

Disclaimer: I don't Naruto or Negi Magister Magi.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALRIGHT! Third chapter! And this is where things start to get interesting. Yep. And not because more and more girls start appearing. But because Naruto will be faced with a big opportunity and with a big trial at the same time. What I'm talking about? Well, enjoy!

"_Good morning, Neil-san…"_

"_MORNING! GOTTA GO TO THE BATHROOM!"_

"_We have never been able to get down there. The traps aren't lethal per se, but… If you keep on…"_

"_AARGH!"_

"… _On doing this, you will die for sure…"_

"_Ara… Seems like we intruded on your bath… Let use make us up for it…"_

"_YEAH! LET'S HAVE A 'RUB NEIL-SAN CONTEST!"_

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"_

"_LET ME GO! HE NEEDS OUR HELP!"_

"_YOU WANT HIS SACRIFICE TO BE IN VAIN?!"_

"_And by the way, Naru-bouzu… You've been holding on my breasts since you said 'trough the corridor together'…"_

"_Two complete idiots…"_

**Pactio!**

**Third hour: Let's get ready to rumble!**

"Hmmm… Maybe he was drunk while he wrote this part…"

Naruto was relaxing, for once. After the weekend training with Kaede, on Monday, things had seemed to have calmed down. No more attempts on his life in sexy ways. Hell, even the cheerleaders had decided to take turns with sleeping with him. That evening, it had been Sakurako's turn. And he still didn't understand why the girls had that satisfied, happy smile on their faces whenever they slept with him. What the hell did they dream about, while they hugged him? Whatever… Currently, he was reading the Lord of the Rings.

"I mean, it's been 40 pages that Aragorn and the other two have been going after the Urukai who kidnapped those two hobbits… And he wrote forty times, in forty different ways, that they got up, followed the tracks and went to sleep. What the…" At this, Negi chuckled.

"You seem to have a knack for literature critique, Naruto-san." Naruto blinked at that.

"Hey… You're probably right. Damn, I suppose I should be thanking Nodoka-chan… Even if she's scary." Naruto shivered at the mental image of the librarian, usually so calm and shy, stare at him like death incarnate. But Negi didn't know this. That's why he was completely oblivious to that. Suddenly, Shizuna approached the two youngsters.

"Good morning, Neil-san, Negi-sensei."

"Ah, Shizuna-san." Naruto greeted the older woman by waving his hand. She smiled warmly at them.

"How's it going, for you two? You've gotten quite acquainted to the place and the students, it seems." Naruto grinned, while Negi sighed.

"Yes, but, they don't really see me as a real teacher. I mean, with being younger than them… They don't come to me for advice or anything like that."

"Uhuhuh… That can't be helped, can it?"

"Ah! Finally some more action, in this book!"

As soon as Negi said that no one would come to him for help, Izumi Ako and Sasakie Makie ran in the room, crying.

"WAAAAAH! SENSEI!"

"NEGI-SENSEI!"

"Yes?" Cue, lots of sweatdropping from Naruto and Negi. Naruto, though, was the first to notice the bruises on their bodies. The book was closed and he was on his feet again in a flash.

"W-What happened, nee-chans?!"

"There's a fight in the school grounds!"

"Take a look at this wound! Please, help us, Negi-sensei! Neil-san!"

"E-EH?! Who would do such a terrible thing… Uh?!" Naruto ran past them and to the door. He stopped right in front of it, to turn to Negi.

"What are you still standing there for?! Let's go, Negi!"

"Y-Yes!" Negi went after Naruto with his same speed.

--

When Negi and Naruto arrived to the place, they arrived just in time to see Okochi Akira and Akashi Yuna being hit with… Volleyballs? How could Volleyballs do that kind of damage? Well, it depended on the thrower, it seemed. As in, some even older nee-chans with a different uniform. High schooler, Naruto remember them to be called… Whatever. It wasn't the time. It was time to…

"Hey! You people, stop right there!"

"Eh…" _He stole my part, but… I think it's better if it's him to shout at them! Way to go, Negi!_ Naruto seriously thought that Negi was finally going to act as a teacher, and help his student.

"Who is it that's been picking on students from my class?! P-Picking on others isn't nice! I'm a teacher and I'm going to get mad!" That's why he facefaulted hard into the ground when he heard the second part of the sentence. He got back up in a flash, glaring at Negi with a big bump now on his forehead.

"WOULD YOU PLEASE NOT ACT LIKE THE KID THAT YOU ARE?! I'M A TEACHER AND I'M GOING TO GET MAD?! WHAT THE HELL?!"

"B-But… I didn't know what to say!"

"WHAT ABOUT SOMETHING THAT REEKED MORE AUTHORITY?! I SWEAR, YOU… Uh?" Naruto turned around to see that a whole class of older nee-chans had gathered around him and Negi… And in two seconds, they were at the center of another marsh-mallow hell.

"KYAAA! SO CUUUUTE!"

"THE 10 YEARS OLD TEACHER AND HIS 12 YEARS OLD GUARDIAN!"

"NO WAY! HOW CAN THIS BLOND KID'S HAIR BE SO SOFT?!"

"H-HEY! NOT AGAIN!"

"AAAAAAAAH! PLEASE STOP!"

"Hey, cut it out, you old hags!"

"BU!"

The hug-fest was interrupted by a volleyball. Naruto managed to grab Negi and jump out of there thanks to the useful distraction. He set him on the ground and sighed.

"Seriously… I really wish I could use my ninja techniques… I could Kawarimi out of situations like that one…"

"Ehm… Sorry about that, Naruto-san…" Naruto snorted, not angry or anything. It seems that the little admonishment had had some effect. He placed a hand on top of Negi's head.

"Don't worry about that. After all, you aren't the kind of guy who gets other to listen to him with authority." Negi looked up at him, and Naruto just grinned. "But you should try to get some guts, you know. That's how people can find you reliable. So…" Naruto made Negi turned around. And they both sweatdropped at the scene in front of them. "What about trying to stop that cat-fight, there? And what's a cat-fight, by the way? I only know that it involves girls fighting with each other…"

"R-Right! Hey! St-…"

"You two are lively as ever, I see…"

Naruto 'tsk-ed'. Takahata had the worst timing, be it for panties-peeks or being a good teacher.

--

And now… How exactly did they end up in that situation? Filling in for other teachers… And since when Middle school teachers filled in for High school ones? Naruto had managed to get away with Negi from the clutches of the older girls just by getting on top of one's pole of the Volleyball net. And didn't they jump high, those girls… But not only that. Negi had finally managed to show some of that teacher's feeling, but since when did he agree for a dodgeball match with THEM as the prize?! WHAT THE?! And he and Negi were going to play as well, it seemed…

"Sigh… This school is full of psychos…" And Naruto couldn't understand why Kaede-neechan didn't want to play. When he had asked her, she had just replied 'I want to enjoy Naru-bouzu in shorts from a good spot!'. He just blushed as red as a tomato and ran out of there. And why the hell were the cheer-leaders cheering for both the 2-A and him?

_Neil-san! Neil-san! Knock them down!_

_And take us for the second round!_

_Neeeeeeeeeeeeil-saaaaaaaaaaan!_

"S-STOP BEING SO PERVERTED, CHEER-CHANS!" That was the name Naruto decided to use for the three girls as a group. And while he got angered, Negi got hit in the back of his head with the ball. He sweatdropped. _R-Right. We're currently in a game… Or, a battle. And I just can't loose. Because… Even if Nodoka-chan, Sakurako-san and the other girls scare me and hug me and cuddle me…_ Naruto turned towards the High school girls, who had… A hungry stare in their eyes, different from the one they reserved for Negi. It was more perverted. He felt a shiver going down his spine and swallowed. _I feel like… Those older nee-chans would do something even more perverted, if they got a hold of me…_ Then, Naruto turned towards Asuna, who was telling Negi to go hide or something. "Go… Asuna-chan, there's a problem, ehm…"

"What?" Asuna turned to Naruto and blinked.

"Ehm… How do you play dodgeball?" At this, everyone around there face-faulted.

"B-Baka! How can you not know dodgeball?! The point is eliminating players from the opposite team! If you hit more of them at the same time before the ball falls to the ground, it's a multiple elimination! If you catch the ball before it falls on the ground, you save your eliminated comrades!"

"Ah!" Naruto turned around to see Makie get hit and the ball bouncing high in the air. The older nee-chans didn't wait for Asuna to finish explaining things to Naruto.

"… So, basically…" Naruto jumped in the air and caught the ball with his hands, landing safely on one hand and both his feet, under the surprised stares of everyone. He smirked in the direction of the high school girls. "I just have to hit them with the ball and not make the ball fall to the ground when it gets to our side of the field, right?"

"Ehm… Right." Asuna was, for once, speechless. Since when twelve years old jumped that high? And just when two of the other girls said that it was going to be a walk in the park… Naruto suddenly realized that it was better to not be too many people, while playing that game. Or you had nowhere to run. Not even to get the ball.

And he just couldn't understand why that scary-looking nee-chan was obsessed with hurting the other girls. He had hit one of the twins in the back of the head! And not even the Gorilla-girl's insane strength was enough to make them falter, it seemed.

"H-Hey! Would you stop being so mean?!" Naruto suddenly exploded. "You're targeting and hurting the weak ones! You could just throw them out without using much power, if you have that much skill!"

"But there's no fun in playing that way, guardian-san…" The older nee-chan tried to get away with a cute pout. But Naruto still glared at her. "… Well, we'll talk about this after we win you and the teacher!"

"HEY!"

"Special Death Blow! Taiyoken!"

"Eh? AH!" Naruto had raised his head again… And he got blinded by the sun as well as Asuna, who got it by the ball…Twice?! He didn't explode… But he got angry. He slowly turned around towards them. "You did that on purpose… Uh?"

Naruto turned around… And the wind felt familiar! That idiot Negi was going to use magic! But it seems that Asuna had overthrow him in making him get reason back. The blonde sighed in relief. And he blinked when Negi actually managed to motivate the girls. _Wow… Seems like he matures by the minute._

And that was when counter-attack started. The remaining girls started to eliminate the older nee-chans… Each one in a stranger way. Kicking the ball, slamming it like a dunk, using a strange bandage thing… In the end, the match was almost finished. And there were left just three older nee-chans against eleven of them.

"Good work, 2-A!"

"Yeeah! We've won!"

But while the girls cheered because they had practically won the match… Naruto felt his prankster skills starting to get a hold of him. He hadn't really showed much of his skills, during the match. And… He felt that the high school girl needed some punishment. He approached Negi.

"Hey, Negi!"

"Uh? Na… Neil-san, what is it?" Negi had learned to correct himself while they were talking in front of other people. He sweatdropped at Naruto's infamous grin.

"How about we…" The older boy whispered something in Negi's ear… And Negi started to freak out.

"B-But Neil-san! Won't that be a bit too much?!"

"Naaah! There's no one ear but us and the girls, right?! And after all, they've been mean to your students!"

"…" Negi thought about for a while… Then chuckled. "Makie-san! Give me the ball, please!"

"Eh? A-Alright, Negi-sensei!" Negi caught the ball and handed it to Naruto. The blonde, grinning, turned to the three remaining nee-chans… While he began to spin the ball in his hands, faster and faster, till it was nothing but a blur.

"Let's go, Negi! Special double-death attack!" Naruto threw the ball high in the air, enough for Negi to reach it as well.

"Yes!"

Everyone's eyes followed their movements. Naruto and Negi pulled back their hands. And no one noticed the little gales of wind gathered around Negi's hand. They punched the ball and the dark haired nee-chan caught it with her hands… Or at least tried to, since the ball released a little tornado. So, the ball slipped out of her grip, reached the stratosphere and ripped their clothes to pieces in the meanwhile, just when Yue whistled the end of the match.

"Waaaaaaah! What the hell did just happen?!"

"2-A wins!"

"Nice work, Negi-sensei! Neil-san! Why didn't you use that shot before?!"

And because of this last shot, a certain someone got the time of his meeting with Naruto forcefully changed. Transfusions are things to do with a certain caution, after all.

--

"Hmmm… AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

Whenever he had a break, that was where Naruto was. Trying to break trough that damn corridor. It had been already one week since the first time he had faced it. Hammer thing. Ducked and dodged. He rolled forwards and sprinted. Arrows, dodged with a jump. Trunk. Dodged by pushing himself with his hands to the ground again. He launched himself forward and dodged the two huge hands clapping themselves together. A little leap over the trap.

"Alright! Today I'm doing good!" Naruto's body seemed to have got a memory of the various traps in the corridor. Even if the order changed from time to time, there were just a few. And finally… He could see a door. After fifty meters of running and dodging, he finally saw a door. "Alright! Now I… WAH!"

Naruto had to stop suddenly in his tracks when what looked like a barrage of wire in the shape of a net appeared in front of him. Suddenly, a voice began to resound in the corridor.

**Final step. Test of strength. You have thirty seconds to destroy the net before being blasted away. 29… 28…**

"… Eh?"

Naruto was stunned for like, five seconds… Then, he tried to do something with the net, like he had been told. He punched it. He punched it with chakra. He got a kunai out of his pocket and tried to cut it. Nothing. He pulled on it with all his might. Nothing.

**3… 2… 1…**

"… GODDAMNIT!"

--

Yue was usually stoic, if not for something that she found interesting or that she liked very much. And she found interesting how Naruto kept on trying the corridor. And she had prepared herself too. While Nodoka and Setsuna did some light work, she waited out of the tunnel for Naruto to come out, ready to bandage. But this time, he was shoot out a little farther than usual. Weird… She approached him and proceeded to treat his wounds.

"What happened? This one was more powerful than the others…"

"I… I reached the end…" Naruto massaged his head. "But there is a final trap. I have to break a net in 30 seconds or I go kaboom. More Kaboom than usual."

"Ahhh… That's why." Yue bandaged his head, while Naruto observed her. He got slightly flushed because they were near each other, and Yue, while not having a body like Kaede-neechan, had a pretty cute face. Especially with that little smile that just she was capable of doing. A tug to his head reminded him of what she was doing, and more importantly, that she had finished. "There. All done."

"Thanks, Yue-chan." Naruto smiled at the girl and got back on his feet. The girl returned to stand as well. "You're very kind with me, and not all cuddly-touchy as the other ones. And not even scary as Nodoka-chan or a baka like Asuna-neechan. You're the girl I like the most."

At this, Yue blushed, but not much. Even if Naruto was oblivious to what those words could mean to a girl, Yue was sharp enough to guess that he didn't mean it 'that' way.

"Arigato…"

"Neil-san!"

"Uh?" Naruto turned around, and he saw a student from Negi's class coming to call him… Makie. Right. Makie. "Makie-neechan, what is it?"

"Aaah, how sweet! You remembered my name! But you can just call me Makie-chan!" The girl beamed for a little while, then she got a little more normal. "The principal wanted you and Negi-sensei in his office! I've already warned Negi-sensei!"

"Thanks for the information, Makie-san! I'll see you later, Yue-chan!"

Naruto began to walk away, with a beaming Makie and a smiling Yue behind him.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw! They're both so cute! Both him and Negi-sensei! But at the same time they're so different…" Makie practically squealed, the turned towards Yue, who blinked in return. "Who do you prefer, Yue-chan?! Negi-sensei has that foreigner look and is well mannered and everything, but Neil-san is so cute with those blond hair and azure eyes! And he looks so strong!"

"…" Yue just sweatdropped. There was no point in arguing about those two. One was 10 years old, the other… Well… … Well, Neil-san was almost thirteen years old, if what he had told her about his birthday was true… And… He sure had soft hair… Yue shook her head, flushing. Bad Makie, influencing her like that…

--

"Hmmm… I wonder what does Principal-jiisan want with me and Negi…" Naruto had the decency, incredible but true, to knock on the door. A brief 'Come in' made him open the door, but the usual Naruto came back immediately. "Principal-jiisan, what is… …"

Naruto finished talking… Because there was someone he really didn't expect to see, in the room. Someone he knew very well, even if in that moment was dressing something that looked more like Takahata's clothes, than his usual robes and hat.

"Naruto… Are you doing good?"

"… J-Jiji? Hokage-jiisan?" Yep. Indeed, dressed in a suit, there was standing, beside the principal's desk, the third Hokage. And Naruto did the first thing that came to his mind, forgetting about Negi and the principal being in the room… He ran to him and hugged him. The Hokage expected this, since he didn't buckle or anything. "Jii-san! I'm so happy to see you!"

"Eheheh… I take you missed this old man, Naruto?" Joked the Hokage. Naruto broke the hug to nod.

"Yeah! And I missed Iruka-sensei and Sakura-chan too! And… …" Naruto did a little back step with a somersault when he remembered what the implications of him being in Mahora and not in the village meant. "Ehm… I got kidnapped by an evil giant cockatoo and… Got dropped here?"

"Eheheh… Don't worry, Naruto. I know that you wouldn't leave the village without a good reason. Not right before graduating."

"Ohohoh. I really didn't expect Sarutobi-kun to contact me after all this time… You really are a special child, Naruto-kun." At this, Naruto blinked. Even if he wasn't the sharpest boy from the block, he couldn't help but noticed the familiarity that the principal had used in calling the third Hokage Sarutobi-kun.

"Wait… Wait a minute." Naruto blinked a couple of times and the pointed his right index finger at the two old men in front of himself. "You two… You two already know each other?"

"That's a story for another time, Naruto. Now, could you and Negi-kun please tell us what happened?"

"…" Naruto turned to the nine years old, with a stare that told 'What now?'. Negi, in return, just sighed. And the sigh meant 'Whatever. We're busted already.'.

And so, the two youngsters began to tell the two old men all that had transpired that damn day in Konoha. The kiss, the card, the travelling. In the end, the two asked Negi to give them the card. Negi pulled it out of an inner pocket of his suit and handed it to them. The two 'geezers' studied it for a little while, then chuckled.

"Well, we can assure you that this card is a just a symbol of what has happened between you two. And it was nothing bad. Quite the opposite, we could say… Even if I'm curious about who could have done this and why." At the two boys' puzzled stares, the principal just put the card in one sleeve of his clothes. "But, I'd like to hold onto it for a few days. Let's say… Till the day after your final exams, youngsters?"

"Y-Yes!" While Negi nodded in agreement, Naruto blinked, even more confused than before. At this, Sarutobi chuckled.

"Well, you see, Naruto… There's a bit of a problem." Sarutobi kept on smiling, but Naruto could bet that it was out of teasing. "Basically, you aren't officially a ninja yet. The day of graduation was basically just the day when you graduates would have been split into teams for the final exam. Out of it, just three teams would have passed.

"Eh?!" Naruto's face was priceless. All those years, the struggling… And there still had been a way for him to repeat yet another year?!

"Now, basically… You should come to Konoha and repeat yet another year, if I was to do this by the rules." Naruto slumped in defeat. Sarutobi chuckled a little bit. "But… Well, this is awkward, but, the only solution would be making you a ninja right now."

"Really?! You can do that?!" At Naruto's outburst, the Sandaime suddenly responded with a solemn face.

"That depends on you, Naruto. You see, novice ninjas are put in teams. So, to be recognized as a ninja so early… Would mean that you have no need for one. So…" The blonde gulped. Sarutobi took a pause for drama. "Basically, Naruto, this is the proposition. You'll have to defeat the team you would have been on. Minus you, of course."

"…" Naruto thought about it… Screw that. It was an occasion to be a ninja. He didn't even think about it. What could he say if not… "Hell yeah, Jii-san! I'll take your challenge!"

"I was sure you would say that… But, I suppose I forgot to mention the members of your team." At this, Naruto's cheerfulness took a sudden stop. He had a bad feeling about this. "Each team is made of a jonin and three genins. So, that would mean that you would have to face two genins, and a Jonin. Of course, though, the Jonin would not fight at his full power." At Naruto's puzzled look, Sarutobi sweatdropped. Oh, come on. Had he studied anything on books, in the academy? "Genin, Chunin, Jonin, Naruto. Remember?"

"Ahhhh! Right… Hey! Wait a minute! How the hell am I supposed to…" The Sandaime stopped Naruto's rant before it even started.

"I wasn't finished. The fighting would be… Three matches, basically. And I'd allow yourself to get a partner for the fight against the Jounin. You would have to defeat in a fight, one after another, two genins and a Jounin, without more than five minutes of rest. And last, but not least… I want you to know the names of the genins and the Jounin you will be fighting against, Naruto." Naruto gulped. Could it get any worse than that? "The genins would be Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura. And the Jounin would be Hatake Kakashi."

"!!" Yes, it could. Basically, the Jii-san had dropped an atomic bomb on his poor mind. Not only he would have to fight three people, one clearly stronger than him, at that point, but the other two would be the girl he was in love with and the guy he had always seen as a rival. He looked at the ground, in thought… _… Jii-san… Or you're a sadist, or you really want to be sure that I'm strong enough to be a 'stand-alone' ninja… A partner… Well, that's easy. Kaede-neechan._ "… You don't leave me with much choice, Jii-san, if the other option is another year of academy…" Naruto suddenly cheered up and trusted his right punch at the Hokage. "You've got yourself a deal!"

"Good. Then, the fight will be on next Monday. The day of the mid-terms exams. You have one week to prepare for the fight, Naruto. The battleground will be…" Sarutobi began to think about it… Then, he pointed out of the window. "The clearing with the little lake in the middle of the forest near the academy."

"Ohohoh… And, I would suggest, while looking for a partner… To look closely around yourself, young leaf." Naruto grinned, confident because he already had a choice. A pretty good one. "Ah, and, you should restrain yourself from asking these five people… Because they are going to be occupied with the mid-terms exams, Naruto-san."

"Eh?" At this, the principal handed a piece of paper titled 'Baka-rangers'. And there were five people on it… … … A scream of frustration was heard in the whole academy.

--

"Sigh… What am I supposed to do, now? Who can I ask to?" Naruto sighed. That was a mess. How was he supposed to defeat a Jonin without Kaede-neechan's help? Negi sweatdropped at the poor blonde. "I can't ask anyone else… Not even you, since you're going to be occupied with your exam too… And, from what I've heard from the principal… Maybe you're the one in the worst situation." And now, it was Naruto's turn to sweatdrop and Negi just laughed nervously.

"Ehm… I'm sure it will not be THAT bad…"

"Sigh… Well, let's see what Jii-san brought me…" Naruto held in front of himself a scroll. From what the Sandaime had told him, it was full of ninja tools and some other things he would need. He opened it like he had told him, by putting chakra into it… On the scroll suddenly appeared a lot of stuff. A few brand-new sets of kunais, a few… Hundred paper bombs? Then, sets of shurikens, some smaller scrolls, wires, flash-bombs… And… Naruto hugged the amount of Ichiraku-made instant ramen. "I love Jii-san so much!"

"Ehm… You like that stuff very much?"

"Yep!" Naruto decided to put everything back into the scroll, for the moment… Well… Almost. Suddenly, something had caught his attention… The stack of paper bombs. He began to think about a certain door that he needed to open with 'strenght'… He took a handful of it and put it in his right pocket. Then, he proceeded to seal back everything into the scroll… Well, tried to. In the end, it took him like… Twelve tries. In the end, he managed to seal them back into the scroll… Even if the scroll got a few bumps out of it. Mah… "Well, I gotta go! I have something I need to do! Good luck with the 'baka rangers', Negi!"

"Good luck to you too, Naruto-san! Let's both do our best!"

In the meanwhile, two old men were observing the scene from a 'safe location'… The principal's office, via Sarutobi's crystal ball. Suddenly, Sarutobi said something under his breath, holding a card in his right hand, and the ball disappeared.

"Ohohoh… This brings back memories…" And what kind of memories? Well, the principal's sudden nosebleed was a dead giveaway. Sarutobi sweatdropped, and suddenly his right side began to hurt. That's where he had been hit, right?

"Yeah… Well, it seems Naruto has already discovered the 'Hidden section', thanks to your girls… I guess it would have taken a woman to get Naruto to read…" _And certainly, not someone like that Haruno girl… I hope this school teaches him good taste in women as well._

--

Yue hadn't expected Naruto to come back before the end of the day, that was sure. But what she really didn't expect was for him to run right past her, Nodoka and Haruna to the door that had become like a recurring nightmare, for him. And she would have never ever expected an explosion ten times louder than the usual to come out of the corridor, along with a charred, but happy, almost triumphant Naruto.

"NARUTO-SAN! I SWEAR, IF YOU EVEN SLIGHTLY SCRATCHED A SINGLE BOOK…" Nodoka began, but Naruto's high spirit gave him courage to talk back.

"No, don't worry, Nodoka-neechan! I just…"

--

"Wow…"

"This is… Unexpected!"

"Scrolls! They are scrolls! This thing must be sooooo ancient!"

These were the girls' mixed reactions to the vision of the door at the end of the corridor finally opened. And what a vision. Beyond the door there was like… A little cave. A little cave, hand build, it seemed, and it was lit by some strange crystals hanging from the roof. It hadn't been built recently, though. That was for sure. The furniture in the room, even if it looked pretty durable, was clearly old. It could be said so even from the design of the various pieces. And they looked far more eastern-like than the rest of the library and of the whole academy, built in an European fashion.

There were four bookcases in all, really big, each one split in five bookshelves, and a big table with a bench on each of the long sides. The shelves were full of scrolls, instead of books… And the only book in the room was on the table, covered in dust.

"This place… Wow." _It's the more similar place to Konoha I have ever seen…_ Naruto slowly approached the book… And then noticed the thumb-height cover of dust. "Ehm… Nodoka-neechan, do you have…" Nodoka handed Naruto a duster. "Thanks."

Naruto slowly uncovered the book, otherwise they would have probably suffocated. Once the dust was gone, the cover was revealed. It was plain brown like the leather it was made of… Except for a leaf. A leaf encased in the cover made out of pure emerald.

"A… A leaf?" Naruto began to feel like something tugging at the back of his memory. The statues at the entrance of the corridor began to become more and more familiar. He opened the book, at the first page. It was written in the form of a letter. He began to read it… "… If you managed to arrive here and find this book, it means that you have potential as a ninja, or you already are one. Whatever the case, you have earned the right to use the knowledge inside this room. The knowledge we have left because of the agreement we made with the founders of this academy. But, we are not allowed to say anything further, in this letter. We wish you a profitable training. Signed… Shodaime… And… Ni… Nidaime?! HOLY SHIT! THE SHODAIME AND NIDAIME HOKAGE ARE THE ONES WHO BUILT THIS ROOM?!"

"… Hokage?"

"Yes! An Hokage, you know! The leader of the… …" Naruto began to sweat when he realized he had just done something that was more stupid that everything he had ever done. He slowly turned around towards the three girls. "… I'm not a ninja."

"… I may have to object to that. There are too many suspicious things about you, Neil-san." Naruto raised an eyebrow. It was like Yue's back-hair had become spiky, and what was that golden badge on her chest? "Your physical resilience and stamina, and you just showed us that you possess some of the knowledge contained inside these scrolls… In a place that has never been opened before."

"W-Well… I could have just… Have heard of it somewhere else. After all, these guys have built something like this…" And why did he suddenly felt like there was chain and something heavy around his chest? He was just trying to keep a secret.

"… Well, the most strange thing is… The explosion." Nodoka and Haruna just kept on observing the scene. "You produced an enormous explosion, just now, to open this place."

"Well… I… I borrowed some explosive! Yes, that's it! What was the name… TNT!"

"…" Suddenly, Yue put her hands on her hips, and acquired a confident smirk. "That's impossible."

"Eh?!" Naruto felt like someone had just hit him. "W-What are you saying, Yue-chan?! I… I used explosive!"

"I repeat, that's impossible."

"T-Then… Prove it!" Naruto got a little angry. "Do you have proof that I didn't use explosive?!"

"…" Suddenly, there was silence. Yue trusted her right hand in the air, just her index finger extended. "Take that."

"Eh?" Naruto blinked.

"The air, Neil-san. If you had used dynamite… There should be a strong smell of sulphur, around here."

"… AH!" Naruto didn't know what sulphur was, but he felt like someone had just stabbed him.

"And on top of that… There should be some residues of plastic around… But, there's nothing of the sort. Whatever you used…" Yue pointed the finger at Naruto, a resolute look on her face. "It wasn't dynamite!"

"N… NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Naruto felt like screaming for some reason. Well, he had just been busted… But how come his chest felt lighter all of a sudden?

"… I hope you're ready to confess." Yue put back in her pocket the golden badge and her hair didn't have that spiky thing anymore.

"…" Naruto sighed. He couldn't deny anything anymore. Nodoka and Haruna clapped their hands at Yue. "Well… Yes. I'm a ninja." Naruto, though, decided that he wasn't forced to tell everything to them. "You wouldn't believe that a normal twelve years old could be asked to be a 10 years old's guardian, right?"

"Hmmm… Right."

"I was an orphan, and a man, one day… Picked me up and decided to train me. But, my sensei didn't teach me much…" _And this isn't a lie. Or better, the lessons were boring…_ "Just the basics of being a ninja. That's why, when I heard that a room like this one existed… I got this excited."

"And what did you use to destroy the barrier you told Yue about? Eh? Eh?" Haruna was excited like a C.S.I. guy at his first autopsy… Ok, bad metaphor. But that's the point.

"Ehm… A ninja tool." Naruto picked out of his pocket a paper bomb. "It's called a paper bomb. A ninja can make it go boom."

"How?" Asked Nodoka. Naruto opened his mouth to speak and… … Realized he didn't know.

"Ehm… Come on, these things will surely be written on those scrolls! Now that we have opened this place, you can read about ninjas every time you want!"

"… Read? Hmmm… And since when does it excite you so much to read?" Nodoka flashed a nasty grin at Naruto, who shivered.

"Since the day I met you, Nodoka-neechan. I… I owe it to you." _You're too scary!_ But of corse, the girls couldn't mind-read… And they intended it the other way round. Not because Nodoka scared him, but because… Nodoka blushed.

"F-Flattery will not bring you anywhere, you know! Are there any other pages on that book?" Naruto returned his attention to the book. Just the first page was written. "Nope."

"Hmm… Well, I'll make sure that you read every single scroll in this room! You will come here every day, read them and then make a report about what's in these scrolls! Yue! Can I trust you on this?!" Yue just nodded. Angry Nodoka scared her as well. Especially when she suddenly turned back to her usual cheerful self. "Good. Haruna, we should resume the work we were doing above."

"…" _A daily session of studying with Yue-chan. Sounds nice. More hug-free time! And on top of that, these scrolls will surely help me for the fight in a week!_

"…" Yue blushed. Maybe she wanted to object to the hug-free time.

--

A good two hours of studying did more good to Naruto than everything he had ever done that was even remotely scholastic-like. Maybe that's because Yue was a better study partner/tutor than every teacher he had ever had. No matter. The point is, Naruto studied something, for once in his life, and he still had it in mind. He had studied the basics of being a ninja. They had arrived till the use of chakra. A note on the scroll told him to go and search in another one for some basics exercises for chakra control. And that was why he was currently in the middle of the forest at the outskirts of the academy. Time to train.

"Lesse… He said to keep chakra under the foot to stick to the trunk… Too much and the trunk breaks, too little and I fall down… Mmmh…" Naruto began to focus chakra under his feet. When he felt like he was ready, he ran towards the tree, took a step on it, then another one… And fell on his head right after. "OW!" Naruto sat on the ground and rubbed the sore spot. "I guess… I used too little chakra." Naruto tried again, this time using more chakra than before… He managed three steps before falling to the ground, this time. "Argh! But what… I used almost two times than before… It's like, no matter how much chakra I summon, I can't make it reach the feet… What the hell?"

"…" In the meanwhile, like when he was training with Kaede, there was that strange device still observing him. The camera with wings. What Naruto didn't know was where that camera sent the video data it collected. In a house, isolated from the rest of the academy and the dorms, home to just one student of Negi's class. Naruto had approached it without knowing it. And for the occupant of the house it was a good occasion for collecting more data about the puzzle that was the blonde.

"Hmmm… I still can't get it." The girl played with her long blonde hair while observing the computer screen in front of her. Unusually long, for someone with the body of a ten years old. "He's using a different energy than magic, that's for sure. It reeks of Ki mixed with something else… Maybe mind energy? Hmm, I think I did read about something like that… But, it's like there are two different signatures. One is it's own, but the other one… …" The girl grabbed his head in confusion. "AAAARGH! THIS IS SO CONFUSING! WHEN THE HELL IS CHACHAMARU GOING TO COME BACK FROM HER ERRANDS?! SHE WOULD HAVE ALREADY SOLVED THIS DAMN PUZZLE, WITH THAT COMPUTER BRAIN OF HERS!"

--

"Anf… Anf… DAMN TREE! YOU THINK YOU'RE SMARTER THAN ME?!"

Naruto had resolved to throw insults at the tree, since in two hours he had climbed just around one meter and a half. He had gotten almost nowhere, he was exhausted… And there still was the matter of the partner.

"Right now… Right now I'm too tired to do anything… But I will be back!" Naruto did a jumped and slashed the tree just above the highest point he had managed to reach. "Consider that a reminder!"

"… What are you doing?"

"Eh?" Naruto turned around in surprise. Whoever sneaked behind his back had been so silent that he hadn't noticed anything. It was a girl. A very tall girl, maybe even taller than Kaede. Long blond hair, some strange… Protections around her knees? And her ears were covered by two… Long things? "Ehm… You're from Negi's classroom, right?"

"… I'm Chachamaru. And you're Neil-san, right?"

"Yes."

"You should be leaving." At Naruto's puzzled look, Chachamaru continued to talk. "You see, there's a…"

Before she could finish the sentence, something eradicated a tree and threw it above their heads. Naruto slowly turned around, and he saw an enormous robot advancing trough the foliage. But since he had no idea what a robot was, he said…

"There's an enormous metallic giant who's gone nuts?" Chachamaru just nodded. Then, the two of them jumped out of the way just in time to dodge another tree.

"It's an experiment gone bad. GLASSESGIRL tried to give it the mind-set of a barbarian, but it got out of control."

"I THINK IT WORKED TOO WELL!" The thing seemed to have taken a liking for Naruto, since he had become his favourite target. He was upon him in an instant, and tried to sledgehammer him into the ground. Naruto got out of the way… But he didn't expect for his head to lengthen and hit him in the chest. "Ack!" Before Naruto could react, the robot was ready to punch him while he was still on the ground. Naruto cringed and closed his eyes… But the hit never came. He opened his eyes… And he saw Chachamaru… Who had stopped the blow with just one hand?

"… You should stay back while I deactivate him." Chachamaru grabbed the arm of the robot with both her hands and swung him high in the air. Suddenly, she took off after him. She flew above him and Naruto heard a clear 'Click' coming from the thing. Then, he realized that it was about to fall to the ground. He jumped out of the way just in time. Chachamaru landed in front of him, and got on her knees. "Are you alright?"

"…" Naruto was processing a few things in his mind. Chachamaru. The girl was cute. She was very strong physically. She could fly… Naruto bowed in front of her. "PLEASE, CHACHAMARU-NEECHAN! BE MY PARTNER!"

"…" Chachamaru tilted her head to the right side, confused. "What?"

In the meanwhile, in the house we have talked about right before, the blonde girl smirked.

"I will never say anything bad about Chachamaru's errands anymore."

_Continue…_

_In the next chapter…_

Seems like Naruto made his choice for a partner. But there's still an obstacle… And that obstacle is named Evangeline MC Dowell… Wait. She's not being much of an obstacle… What the? Stay tuned!


	4. Fourth Hour

Disclaimer: I don't Naruto or Negi Magister Magi

Disclaimer: I don't Naruto or Negi Magister Magi.

And here's the fourth chapter! I hope you're ready to see Naruto in more embarrassing situations and training for his fight! We had left him asking Chachamaru to be his partner… What will she reply? And what will Evangeline say of this? Stay tuned!

**Pactio!**

**Fourth hour: Of robots and vampires… Cute ones**

"…" Chachamaru, using her full array of brain functions, had managed to elaborate in less then a second the completion of the blonde's words. He had asked her to be his partner. Not in a romantic way, since he had asked suddenly right after witnessing her skills in battles. It made sense, even if she didn't know what he needed a partner for. But there was a little problem… "I already have a partner.

"Eh?" Naruto blinked. What did…

"You want to acquire my aid as your fighting partner. But I already am my master's partner. I cannot accept your offer." Simply replied the girl.

"…" Naruto blinked once. Then twice. That was something he really didn't expect. He thought about it for a while… "B-But not forever! I'd just need your help for training for a week and for a single fight!"

"…" Chachamaru moved her head to the side again. A temporary thing… She had calculated a 67 of possibility that it could have been that. After all, their level of acquaintance was just 2 out of 10. He would not have asked something permanent. Now, her sensors gave her a 80 compatibility with the boy. So, to her, it was a possibility. But, there was the matter of her master. She never managed to get a reliable reading of the possibilities, when it came to her master. "… Well… You could ask my master about it…"

"Really?! Where can I find her?"

"I'll bring you to her… After I repair the specimen and set his routine to 'Returning to base'." And before the robot flew away in the direction he had came from, Naruto didn't have the slightest idea how what Chachamaru had just said.

--

"Oh… This is a nice home."

Naruto was at first surprised that Chachamaru lived with her 'master' so away from the dorms, but hed had kinda understood why after entering the little house in the middle of the forest. Even if the rooms were very nice, that house was nicer. It had everything one could wish. It gave such an homey feeling…

"I think master is upstairs. I will call for…"

"Don't worry, Chachamaru. I'm already here." Naruto turned towards the stairs of the house that led to the upper floor. On top of them was standing a girl… Another girl from Negi's classroom. The one who looked like a ten years old. The only ones more childish in appearance than her were the two prank twins. But… The aura she had around her told him… Otherwise. Maybe it was because of her clothes too. She was wearing all black. Black shoes, a black long dress, and her hair showed two tied black ribbons. It was like… To Naruto, it gave the feeling of a much older person. Not a ten years old. "And I see you brought a guest."

"Yes, Master. This is Neil-san. I assume you know him already as Negi-sensei's guardian." Chachamaru bowed, and Naruto felt like the need to imitate her.

"Of course. And he's much welcome, I must say." At that, both the people downstairs blinked. Naruto because he didn't understand why he would be welcome. Chachamaru because she didn't understand why Naruto would be welcome, because that was unlike her master and because she didn't know why she blinked in the first place. She wasn't programmed to do that… Evangeline was downstairs in a set of slow, smooth steps. "Chachamaru, why don't you go and make us some tea? Green."

"… Yes, master." Chachamaru bowed and walked towards the kitchen. Evangeline then smiled at Naruto.

"Shall we seat? I believe you came here to talk about something…"

"Ehm… Yes." Naruto followed the girl to her table. And even more suddenly, he found himself doing something he wasn't used to… Pulling over a chair for someone to sit on more easily. Evangeline just smirked at him.

"Thank you…"

"…" _What the hell?_ Naruto looked at his hands like they were not his own, then shrugged it off and sat on a chair in front of Evangeline.

"So… You came here to ask me something, right?" Naruto blinked at her.

"Ehm… How do you know?" Strangely enough, Naruto didn't even try to deny it. What was this… This charm. He didn't have any other words for it. It was a strange charm, what the girl was having on him.

"Because Chachamaru brought you here. She doesn't usually do so, if there's not a matter that concerns her or me… And since you didn't know me, I suppose it concerns Chachamaru?" The petite girl crossed her hands under her chin, smiling at Naruto. The blonde found himself mesmerized and even more charmed by that smile. But it wasn't the kind of charm that made you flush. It was something stronger… Thicker. Bigger.

"Yes, actually… I happened to witness Cha-chan's strength… And…"

"That's quite a pretty nickname you found her." Naruto got interrupted by that, but then thought about it… And smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well… It came to me naturally. So, basically… I would like to ask for Cha-chan to be my partner for a week. She would have to help me with training and a fight."

"Hmmm…" Evangeline suddenly raised her right hand from under her chin, and observed the middle finger and its nail for a few seconds. "Well… It's not big problem for me… But…" She suddenly turned to Naruto. "I would like something for it…"

"Ehm… I'll do what I can… What would you like?"

"Well…" Evangeline chuckled, and looked around her with her eyes, never meeting Naruto's gaze… Then she returned his gaze to him. "You see, Neil-san, actually… I'm pretty much interested in you."

"… Eh?" Now it was a good time to blush. Evangeline just smirked devilishly at that.

"Let's say that… If you want Chachamaru to be your partner for this period of time you said… In exchange, I'd like the two of us to get to know each other better. To spend a lot of time together…" She took a hold of a lock of her hair, stroking it slightly. "What do you say?"

"Ehm…" Naruto blushed some more and then swallowed. "W-W-W-Why not?"

"Excellent." Evangeline smiled at him, smirking internally at herself. _Good, old, vampire charm… And good Chachamaru. Thanks to this unexpected turn of events, I managed to land myself an excuse to find more about this boy._ Suddenly, Chachamaru walked out of the kitchen holding a tray with some sweets, two cups on small plates, sugar with teaspoons, and a medium sized teapot.

"Tea is ready, Master."

"Wonderful, Chachamaru. Put it on the table."

"…" While Chachamaru did as Evangeline asked her to do, Naruto just couldn't believe what he had just been asked… And he couldn't believe he had agreed to it.

--

"What a day…" While returning to his apartment, Naruto had a lots of thoughts in his mind. They were interrupted by Negi poking him.

"Hey, Naruto-san. What's with that face?"

"… Today has been incredible… A lots of things happened…" Naruto looked at the sky, and then turned to Negi again. "I managed to open that door, jii-san found me and said that I could still be a ninja, I fought a giant robot, and a girl asked me to be her boyfriend… And I said yes!"

--

"…" Negi couldn't believe it. Usually, he was fast asleep. At least half an hour before Asuna and Nodoka. But, that night, he just kept on thinking about what Naruto had told him. _Naruto-san is so mature… Much more reliable than me, right now… He's strong, he's a ninja, he accepted to be my guardian and to help me with the class… And he got himself a girlfriend too. All these responsibilities… Yet, he took them upon his shoulders. _Suddenly, Negi sat in his bed and trusted his right punch in the air. "Alright! I'm going to work even harder! I'll make my class raise their level in the ranking, and then I'll get stronger and stronger! And when I get his age, I'll get a girlfriend too!"

"Hmmm… Who got a what?"

"Ah! S-Sorry, Asuna-san. I didn't want to wake you up…" Negi rubbed his right hand behind his head, looking apologetic. Asuna just rubbed her eyes.

"Mhh… Nevermind." Asuna blinked once… Then twice when she realized what Negi had just said. "Hey, wait a minute… Who got himself a girlfriend? You said you wanted to get one too…"

"Eh?! Ah! N-N-N-No! You probably misheard me in your sleep, Asuna-san! Ahahah… Ack!" Asuna had grabbed Negi by the scarf of his pyjama, and was shaking him back and forth.

"You're not going to talk your way out of this! You've already made me curious! Who got himself a girlfriend?!" At that time, Konoka decided to wake up as well.

"Hmmm… A girlfriend?" She was clear-headed much faster than Asuna. "What?! Negi got himself a girlfriend?!"

"NOOOOOOOO! NOT ME! IT WAS N…"

"N? N-who?!"

"A N got himself a girlfriend?" Konoka began to think about it. "Natto? Nee-san? Nee-chan? Neko? Nerfbat?"

"Ah! I got it! It's Neil-san, right?! He's the one who got himself a girlfriend!"

"I-I don't know for sure! He just said something about a girl asking him out!" _I need to cover this mess! Quickly! At least a bit…_

"Ahhh! So, someone asked Neil-san out, hn?! I wonder who could have been…"

"Who asked Neil-san out?!" Seems like fate decided that Haruna had to pass by Asuna's door, that night. And Haruna had a flaw. She just couldn't shut up about these kind of things.

--

When Naruto reached the classroom, he found it… A bit different from the last time. It was like… Well, first, Evangeline and Chachamaru were not attending classes, that morning. And second… When he entered, the whole classroom went silent. Some girls were blushing. Some girls stared at their classmates in weird ways. The three cheerleaders were all-out glaring around. Naruto was very, very confused.

"Ehm… Good morning, sorry for being late?" _What the… Did I do something wrong? But in that case, they wouldn't be glaring at each other…_

--

"Hmm… Interesting. These tips will be useful."

In the afternoon, Naruto was enjoying his studying session with Yue, sitting side by side. The girl was as interested as him in what they were reading. Chakra, techniques, handseals… Naruto could see the girl trying some, from time to time. And everytime she screwed one up, he would chuckle. Right now, they were reading about chakra control. But Yue was thinking about something else too, that day. She just had to ask him.

"Neil-san…"

"Yes, Yue-chan?"

"…" Yue took a couple of seconds before continuing, for drama effect. "Is it true that a girl from our classroom asked you out?" If Naruto had been drinking something at that moment, it would have all ended up on Yue.

"W-W-W-W-W-W-W-What the! I mean, who did you hear it from?"

"From Haruna who heard it from Konoka who heard it from Asuna who forced it out of Negi-sensei's mouth."

_Face, meet palm. Palm, meet face. That idiot… He must have let the thing slip… Good thing that he managed to bring it to just a date. If they knew that Eva-chan has asked me to __be her girlfriend…_ Naruto sighed. "Yes… It's true."

"And… What did you say?"

"…" Naruto blushed a little. "Ehm… I said yes." Yue suddenly found herself gripping her pencil very hard. She didn't know why. "Well, I mean… I accepted because I owed her a favour."

"You… Owed her?" At this, Yue blinked.

"Yes. Basically, it's like this. But I mean, it's not big deal, Yue-chan." Yue blinked more. "It's just a date. It's not like I became her boyfriend, right?" _I hope to be in one of my liar-days…_

"…" Yue blinked and then brought the gummed-end of her pencil to her left cheek, scratching it slightly while thinking. "Then… Would… I mean…" Yue blushed at what she was about to ask. Naruto raised an eyebrow at her. "W-Would… Would it be okay if went out on a date too, then? Maybe after the mid-term exam?"

"!!" From the other end of the room, Haruna almost facefaulted. Since when had Yue become so daring?!

"Ehm…" Naruto blushed more than Yue. _Oh, kami-sama… Why are girls around here so different from Sakura-chan? I mean, I just got a girlfriend and now Yue-chan asks me out… But I can't really refuse, can I? I mean, to cover it up for all the help she's giving me…_ Then, scratching the back of his head, he replied. "Well… Yes, of course! Yue-chan is helping me so much! That means a lot to me! Especially since you're a baka-ranger!"

"…" At this, Yue blushed as much as she could. "Y-Y-You know about that?"

"Eheheh… Yes. And that's why I'm thankful you're helping me. I have some kind of exam too, on Monday…"

"… I see. It involves your being a ninja, right?" Naruto sighed and then nodded.

"Yeah… That's why I'm studying and training really hard, right now… I have to absolutely pass it."

"…" Yue thought about it for a while. Then, something came to her. "Neil-san, where will this exam be held? And I suppose it will be a fighting exam…"

"Eh? Well, somewhere here in Mahora. Why is that?"

"I think you should ask." Yue approached Naruto even more, and pointed at a sentence on the scroll. She then read it out loud. "A ninja starts a fight even before meeting his opponent."

"Hn?" Naruto blinked. He had dismissed that part.

"Think about it." Yue turned her head towards the blonde. "Knowing the terrain where you will fight before hand is an advantage, because…"

"Because…" Naruto thought about it for a couple of seconds… And then understood. And smirked evilly. Later, when he would ask Sarutobi about that thing, the Sandaime would feel a shiver go up his spine. That same shiver that he always felt whenever Naruto prepared one of his worst pranks.

--

"Alright! Almost done!"

The fighting ground was going to be a clearing in the middle of the forest where Naruto had trained with Kaede a week before. With the help of Chachamaru, Naruto was setting a couple of things that would help him greatly during his fights. Chachamaru was currently keeping a dark brown sheet tense, and Naruto was covering it with patches of ground to hide it.

"… Alright! This was the last one! Thanks for all your help, Cha-chan!" Chachamaru bowed in front of the ninja, who just let himself fall on his butt, on the ground. "Ahhh! Now I'm hungry… Uh?"

Naruto hadn't even finished say the word 'hungry' that Chachamaru had pulled out of a backpack she had brought with her a bento box, and handed it to Naruto. Naruto stared at it for a couple seconds.

"F-For me?" Chachamaru just nodded. Naruto stared at it a couple of seconds… Then hugged Chachamaru, who was a bit surprised by that reaction. She had not enlisted it among the probable routines of answering of the blonde. "Thanks, Cha-chan!" Naruto let the droid go and then proceeded to dig into the box hungrily. "Wow, this is so good!"

"…" Chachamaru cocked her head to the side a little. "No one… Ever made you a bento box?"

"Nope! You're the first! I don't have relatives and no girl ever made one for me! You're the best, Cha-chan!"

"… If you want… I can make you one daily."

"Eh? Really?" Chachamaru nodded. Naruto grinned. "You really are the best, Cha-chan! I bet Eva-chan is very happy to have you as her partner!"

"Well… Yes. I suppose you could say that." Chachamaru elaborated that answer after remembering that, in fact, her master had been very pleased when she had been built to be her partner. Maybe a little too much… She had cackled like she usually did on one of her 'evil days'.

"And by the way…" Chachamaru returned her attention to Naruto. "Do you have any ideas as for… Why Eva-chan asked me to… You know, to get to know each other better and all that?"

"…" Of course, Chachamaru knew. But she couldn't say the whole truth to the blonde. It would go against her master's plans. She elaborated a satisfying answer. "My master is… Very interested in things that are more than what they look like."

"Eh?" Naruto blinked at that. "You mean… She thinks I am 'more than what I look like'?" Chachamaru nodded.

"Yes. She is very interested in knowing who you really are, Neil-san…"

"…" Naruto scratched the tip of his nose. That was the first time a girl was that interested in his self. "Well, now… What about moving to another location to have a little spar? I'd like to know what you're capable of doing, Cha-chan."

--

Naruto, in fifteen minutes, had learned with his body the meaning of the word 'Owned'. In fifteen minutes Chachamaru had beaten him to the ground more than twenty times, and the longest that it had taken her had been 45 seconds. His fault for asking her to go all out, he supposed. But it still hurt. More his pride than his body, actually.

"… DAMNIT!" Naruto started throwing a tantrum while still on the ground.

"Are you hurt?" Asked worriedly Chachamaru, kneeling beside him. Naruto stopped and pouted, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Not much. It's just that… I can't believe how strong you are, Cha-chan. Or better, how weak I am!" He got back into a sitting position. Chachamaru observed him, and he stared back. "Do you have any ideas, Cha-chan?"

"… Well, the point is…" Naruto blinked. "You are strong. Or better, you could be… But you don't know how to use your strength."

"…" Naruto blinked some more. Chachamaru cocked her head to the side and then back in a normal position again.

"I analyzed our sparring, and I did an analysis of your combat skills and physical attributes." Naruto rubbed his chin in thought. "Basically… Your skill in hand to hand combat is… Zero. You fight like a bully." Naruto dropped his head. "Tactic… Also Zero. You don't plan ahead. You just fight on instinct alone. You think of a plan just when you're forced into a corner. Many times it can be too late." Naruto dropped his head even more. "And your techniques… You just know how to multiply yourself, but you use much more energy than needed for it, but since you don't apply tactic, it's almost useless as well, if the opponent can dodge all of your attacks or is able to attack all your clones and yourself at the same time." Naruto was crying in a fetal position. "Your only good attribute is your enormous stamina and amount of energy, added with some good reflexes."

"… Finish me. I don't want to live anymore." Chachamaru cocked her head to the left side.

"I think… Master would be disappointed with that…" Naruto groaned and with a jump was back sitting on the ground.

"Then, Cha-chan! What should I do to improve?! Eh?! I want to become stronger! Even stronger than you!" Chachamaru fixed her eyes on Naruto, and then began to think about it.

"On a physical matter, I think you should keep on doing that training… Tree-climbing, right? To affine your control over your energies." Naruto nodded. "And… I shall help you with developing some insight."

"Really? How?"

Chachamaru got back on her feet. She motioned to Naruto to do the same.

"I can't teach you martial arts, Neil-san, and neither tactics. It would take too long, and we don't have much time, you said. But I can teach you about 'insight'. It's the ability to predict the opponent's immediate next move."

"… Cool! How do you do that?" Naruto jumped back on his feet, visibly pumped at the idea of doing something so cool.

"It's an ability that involves visual memory, reflexes and a bit of luck." Chachamaru was trying to explain it the simplest she could. She started to look trough her files and quickly picked out the one about martial arts. She took a battle stance. Naruto mimicked her. "We're going to do this slowly. Do what I tell you to do." Chachamaru stretched her right arm with her right hand curled in a punch, then flexed her left arm in a 90 degrees angle over the right one. "Do the same. Grab my right punch with your left hand and put your right punch in my left hand."

"Alright…" Naruto flexed his legs, and did as told, trying to make it look as realistic as possible.

"Good." Chachamaru nodded. "Now, this is a typical kind of grapple. There are some variants but the basis is that in this situation you can't use your arms or apply strength with the upper part of the body. Once in this situation, one can do three things. First, try to break the grapple by using more strength. Second, breaking the grapple by jumping back and putting more distance. Third, attack in another way." Naruto nodded, trying to memorize everything. "Now, the first two are easy to detect. But, in case the person decides to attack… What can someone do in this situation?"

"Hmmmm…" Naruto began to think about it. In that situation one could move his legs or… His head. "Well, you can try to kick the other one's legs to make him lose his balance or… Headbutt him."

"… Almost correct." Chachamaru suddenly kneed him. Hard. In the balls. Naruto let out a scream that made every animal around the clearing and in the range of two kilometres, and began to roll on the ground clutching his family jewels in pain. "Sorry, Neil-san. But it's for the sake of learning. In a real battle you will have to think about every possible action of your enemy in a matter of seconds. Sometimes even less. That's why, in training, every error will bring you pain."

"BUT WHY MY FAMILY JEWELS?! AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

--

Naruto had managed to earn from Chachamaru the promise to not hit him 'there' anymore. But the girl still hurt him whenever he did some kind of mistake. In a lot of other places. And after that, he noticed he had forgot his book in the classroom.

"Damn it… My poor legs…" Naruto felt like shit, to use few words. But at least, with this he would be doing two kind of trainings at the same time. The Insight training, and toughening his body. Chachamaru had one mean punch… And knees… And kicks… And head… And they were like… They felt like they weren't made of flesh and bones. What the? Naruto just shrugged it off. He had arrived in front of the classroom. "Here it is." He opened… And blinked. _What the…_

Naruto found a strange sight. First, it was very late. Classrooms had finished from… From… He didn't remember. But there was someone in his classroom. Doing a very strange thing. His book was on the ground near the teacher's desk. That's where he had left it. It was open on a page. But there was this girl, with a different uniform than the other girls' one… Trying to change the page by blowing? Her cheeks were red and puffed. "Ehm… What are you doing?"

"!!" Naruto suddenly found big red eyes staring at him. The girl stared at him for a few seconds, then she turned to her left side, then to her right side and then behind her, long silver hair moving in the air. Then, she turned to Naruto again… And pointed to herself with her right finger. "You… You're talking to me?"

"Ehm… Yes?" Naruto replied sweatdropping.

"You… You can see me?" The girl asked again, eager. "And… H-Hear me?" Again, even more eager. Naruto just sweatdropped more and nodded. "…" Suddenly, the girl threw herself at him. Naruto, instinctively took a step back… And then freaked out when the girl passed trough him. He turned around… And panicked for two things. The girl was starting to cry and… To disappear?! "W-W-W-WHAT THE?!"

"… WAAAAAAH! IT'S NO FAIR!" The girl started to cry fountains. And even those passed trough him. Naruto was seriously, seriously freaked out.

"W-Wait! Why are you… Disappearing?!" He asked. The girl just kept on crying.

"I DON'T KNOW! AND TO THINK THAT I HAD FINALLY MANAGED TO MAKE MYSELF SEEN! WAAAAAH!" The girl was disappearing inch after inch.

"H-HEY! COME ON, DON'T DISAPPEAR! FOCUS!" Naruto said, not aware himself of what he was saying. The girl stopped crying for a second.

"F-Focus?"

"Yeah! Like… THINK VERY STRONGLY! I WANT TO BE SEEN! I WANT TO STAY VISIBLE!" _WHAT THE HELL AM I SAYING?!_

"…" The girl stared at him for a few seconds… Then closed her eyes and concentrated. _I want to stay visible! I want to stay visible! I want to stay visible!_ She kept on chanting in her head that phrase. And then… She slowly opened her eyes… And she saw that her legs were still there, and that the blonde was sighing in relief. "You… You can still see me?"

"Yes. Thanks god, yes." Naruto brushed some sweat from his forehead.

"…" The girl stared at him… And then her eyes began to wet. She began to cry again, hiccupping. Naruto panicked again.

"H-HEY! WHY ARE YOU CRYING AGAIN?! YOU'RE STILL HERE!"

"T-That's why… Sniff…" The girl was smiling while crying, if that was possible. "It's been… It's been so long… Since I… Sniff… I'm just happy."

"…" Naruto scratched the point of his nose. Then sweatdropped. "Ehm… You're disappearing again."

"AH! I WANT TO STAY VISIBLE! I WANT TO STAY VISIBLE!"

--

"So… You're a ghost, Sayo-chan?" The girl nodded. "And you've never been able to make yourself be seen or heard? Seriously?"

"Yes… Apart if I wanted to scare someone… But it's not like anyone would stick around to talk, Neil-san." The girl dropped her head while Naruto sweatdropped once again.

"Ehm… And… What were you trying to do with my book?" At this, the girl blushed.

"Ehm… I can't touch objects… Or people, so… I was trying to see if at least my breath had any effect." Naruto 'Hmmm'ed. It really sucked to be a ghost. Then, something occurred to him.

"Hey… How come I was able to see you when I came into the classroom, then?" At that, Sayo blinked.

"I… I don't know." She seriously didn't. She was just trying to focus to blow the page… Ah. "Ah! Maybe… I was trying so hard to blow the pages that… Maybe I have to be visible to do things like that…"

"Hey! Maybe if you focus you can touch things as well, then! Try it!" Naruto beamed. He was curious about the thing as much as he was eager to help the girl.

"You think… W-What should I touch?" She blinked when Naruto offered her his hand, palm to the sky. The girl observed it. It was full of bruises… She then looked at the blonde's grinning face. "…" She stared back at the hand. She focused on it, really hard, trying to keep it the only thing in her mind. Then… She slowly started to outstretch her own hand, with her eyes closed. She was trembling. She kept on focusing, but she found it very hard. She was so afraid of another delusion, of having her hand pass trough Naruto's one… Suddenly, she felt… Warmth. She felt warmth under her hand, warmth that she had almost forgotten how it felt like… She opened her eyes… She was touching Naruto's hand. "I… I did it…"

"Yeah! Great work, Sayo-chan… Uh?" Suddenly, it seemed that Sayo had decided to try something else. She was trying to hug, and… Did a messy job about it. Just her left arm was solid, and she was whispering 'I want a hug, I want a hug, I want a hug…'. Naruto rolled his eyes. "Slow down, will ya? A hand and a hug are two completely different things…" Sayo blinked, put some space between them and stuck her tongue out at Naruto.

"Neil-san, you're a meanie!" Naruto chuckled and picked up the book from the ground. "Ah… The book…"

"I have to carry it home. Otherwise, it will get ruined overnight…" Naruto suddenly shivered. _Nodoka nee-chan would kill me…_ Naruto stood up and walked to the door.

"O-Oh…" Sayo dropped her head. She wanted to read the book… And now that she knew that she could touch things… Naruto suddenly broke her thoughts.

"Hey, what are you doing still there on the ground?" Sayo raised her head again and blinked. Naruto was smiling at her. "I can't wait forever for you to get off the floor to get home. I can't carry you, you know." Sayo suddenly beamed and rushed past… Trough him. Naruto almost screamed.

--

"But sir, those are just windmills…"

"Hihihi… This Don Quixote sound so fun." Naruto was currently in the hot springs, alone… Well, not really. He was still with Sayo. The girl had begged him to read the book to her, since it would take lots of time to read it on her own. Now, the only place where he could read the book to her without anyone seeing him talking to a disappearing girl were the hot springs, right before every female from his class came to bathe. Naruto had agreed to do it (with a swimsuit on, of course). She pouted. "I wish I could read the book on my own, though…"

"Then, train! Train everyday to get solid! It's not like I enjoy reading things to people, you know?" Naruto stuck his tongue at the girl and Sayo stuck her tongue back.

"When I can get solid enough to hug you, I will hug you to death, Neil-san!" Sayo then chuckled. She was really enjoying herself. It had been so long since she had managed to talk to anyone…

"By the way, Sayo-chan… How did you die?"

"Ehm…" Sayo sweatdropped and attempted to punch her own head, failing, since the hand went trough her head. "I don't remember…"

"You don't remember?"

"…" Sayo looked at the ground. "I heard people say… That violent accidents sometimes shock you to the point that you lose memory… Maybe I died in a violent way…" Suddenly, Naruto felt like an ass. Sayo noticed his uneasiness and just made her hand solid, and slowly ruffled his hair, to not lose focus. "Hey! Keep on reading! I want to know who wins between Don and the windmills!"

"Ehm… I think that's a bit obvious, no?"

_Continue…_

_In the next chapter…_

Finally, the big day arrives! Naruto's battle! Expect explosions and a ghost cheerleader! Stay tuned!


	5. Fifth Hour

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Negi Magister Magi

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Negi Magister Magi

Here we go! Fifth chapter! And I have a surprise. This fic has entered the finals of the 'Best Naruto Crossover fic' of the Naruto Crossover Ramen Stand. Would you mind, my dear readers, go to the C2's forum and vote for me? Please. And now, enjoy!

**Pactio!**

**Fifth hour: We're fighting love. And Sharingan wielders.**

Kunai. Check. Orange jumpsuit. Check. Forehead protector. Check. Kunai, Shuriken, Paperbombs. Check. Partner… He was knocking on the door. It finally was the big day. The day he had been preparing for. Today he would be given the chance to become a ninja. But to do that, he would have to defeat his rival, his crush… And a Jounin. He gulped. Even he was feeling the tension.

The door opened with a 'Creaaak'. But he was surprised to see Evangeline opening the door instead of Chachamaru.

"Ah. Eva-chan."

"No." Naruto blinked. What the hell… He pulled on his arm with her right hand. "You're not going to fight dressed in that orange horror."

"Ah… But this…" Before he could object anymore, Evangeline pulled him inside demonstrating a huge feat of strength for a girl of that age.

--

"Strange…" Sarutobi and the principal were waiting, along with Naruto's opponents, near the edge of the clearing designed as the battleground. It still wasn't the time of the battle, but knowing Naruto he would have dragged himself there to be there at least a half an hour before, considering how important was the thing to him. "He should have been here already…"

"Hmph." The last Uchiha just snorted. The idiot never ceased to amuse him. It seemed that he hadn't changed much since the last time he met him.

"Argh! Doesn't he know that it isn't proper to make a lady waiting?!" Sarutobi and the principal silently thought that Naruto wouldn't have to worry about that, since there wasn't anything even remotely ladylike in that clearing… Well, maybe Sasuke.

"…" Kakashi was occupied with his favourite book, but he was the third one in the clearing to notice three approaching persons. "Seems like he's here."

"Yeah! Finally!" Sayo was invisible to everyone in the clearing and inaudible, but everyone turned in her direction nonetheless, feeling something in her direction. She didn't care much. She was eager to see Naruto fight like a warrior. Like Don… Well, maybe a little better than Don Quixote. But… She had the same reaction as everyone when Naruto and the other two people that were accompanying him entered the clearing.

"Oh, come on! Why this spiked thing, Eva-chan?! It's so not my style!" Eyes wide.

"Nonsense. Black looks good on you. And gothic style looks awesome." Rapidly blinking.

"I have to agree with master, Naruto-san." Mouth opened half wide. Naruto had had a complete makeover. A black sleeveless mesh shirt. A fishnet bracer on his left forearm. A spiked belt, and two spiked bracelets around his right bicep and his right wrist. A golden snake bracelet around his right forearm. Black pants. Boots. A collar. A freaking collar. A chain coming out of his right pocket and ending in his weapon pouch. And various fingerwraps and rings around his fingers. His weapon pouches were in the usual places, though. Along with the forehead protector, even if the cloth had changed from blue to black. But the worst thing was the make up around his eyes. Naruto groaned and palmed his own forehead.

"Whatever… Oh! Hi! Jii-chans! Sasuke-teme! Sakura-chan! And… You're the Jonin?"

"…" The first one to snap out of it was Sakura, thanks to her inner self who had remained immune to the shock. "NARUTOOOOOOOOOOO! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WEARING?!"

"B-But Sakura-chan… I mean, these clothes…" Everyone was waiting for an explanation. Naruto blushed and scratched the back of his head, looking at the ground. "Ehm… I was going to wear my usual orange jumpsuit, but Eva-chan insisted that I wore this attire… She said that she made them herself." While the principal rolled his eyes in understanding, Sarutobi sighed shaking his head. Kakashi just stayed silent. Not his problem if his teacher's son turned Goth while he was away… Shit. Sasuke's right eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Sakura was still angry.

"And who the hell is Eva-chan?"

"That would be me." Everyone who didn't already know her turned to look at the girl, dressed in a similar Gothic attire. "I'm Evangeline. And I'm here to observe Naruto's fight."

"… And why the hell do you care?"

"Unlike you, I care about Naruto's well being." The girl then turned to Naruto, with a smile. "Do your best, alright?"

"I-I will." Naruto replied, nodding.

"Good. Come on, Chachamaru. You will join just in the third fight. We will watch from afar."

"Yes, master."

"… Alright. Since Naruto's here, I suppose we can start." Sarutobi walked to the center of the clearing, being careful enough to not step on the little surprises Naruto had set up. The blonde noticed this and silently thanked the Sandaime. "Can the Goth and the Bubblegum… Ehm, Naruto and Sakura come to the center of the field?"

"Yes, jiisan." Naruto walked towards the center of the field slowly. In the meanwhile Sakura was still a bit angry, and basically stomped her way there… She never reached it. After stepping on a particular piece of grass, a huge explosion suddenly took place. Evangeline and Kakashi blinked at that, while Sasuke got shocked. Sarutobi and Naruto cringed. That was the most well hidden trap of the whole field, and the most powerful as well. Sakura flew into the horizon screaming for help, leaving behind her a shine like a star. While a certain group of thieves in another continuity contacted their lawyer for stolen signature defeat, Naruto sighed. "Ehm, jiisan… Even if she didn't fight, I doubt Sakura-chan will get back up or here any time soon…"

"…" Sarutobi sighed and then smiled. "Winning a fight even before fighting. That's how the ninja in the old days were. You already got one point, Naruto."

"Ehm… Thanks. I just hope that Sakura-chan isn't really hurt… I packed like ten paperbombs in that trap…"

While Sasuke was checking his surroundings looking for any other deadly devices hidden under the ground, Kakashi was starting to reconsider the potential of the boy. And Evangeline… After a bit of staring, she chuckled darkly. It seems that that powerful energy wasn't the only interesting thing about the blonde. Chachamaru, instead, estimated a two weeks period of hospitalizing for the girl who had just flown away. Sayo had materialized two pon pons and was cheering like there was no tomorrow.

--

"Ahhh! It's finally over!"

"…" Yue had finally finished compiling all the questions. Now, she could only wait for the results. And she could let her mind wander off… To think of a certain blonde haired guy who was undergoing another exam. Not less important than her own one. And… She blushed when she remembered that they had a date after that…

"GIRLS, GIRLS! HAVEN'T YOU HEARD?! THIS IS TERRIBLE!!"

"Uh?" Yue turned around. Ayaka had run into the separate classroom for them who were late with an incredibly frightened look on her face. Asuna immediately groaned.

"What is it, class rep? Negi didn't accept your offer of dressing up in drag for your…"

"SHUT UP! I'VE JUST HEARD THAT IF OUR CLASS RANKS LAST IN THE WHOLE SCHOOL AGAIN, NEGI-SENSEI WILL BE SENT AWAY!"

"! What?!" Everyone in the classroom had the same reaction. But Yue was the first girl to understand another thing. Neil-san was Negi's guardian. So, if Negi went away, Neil too… She suddenly felt like dieing inside. Even if his own exam went well, if they hadn't…

"… Oh, no…" She suddenly felt like someone had just told her she was the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler. Sick inside.

--

"Ohohoh. Finally. Let's hope these youngsters give me a fine show. I had to ask one of my helpers to do something really important in my place to be here." The principal wasn't surprised that Evangeline and Chachamaru had finished very early their exam, but there still was the matter of the baka-rangers. He would have wanted to check the papers himself, but… It had been such a long time since he had seen a fight between two young promising youngsters. It reminded himself of past events…

Naruto had been waiting, standing perfectly still, in the middle of the clearing. Sasuke had slowly walked towards the spot as well, paying attention to not step on other traps and get humiliated like Sakura. The idiot had gotten better with traps, it seemed, from the last time he had seen him in Konoha. But he still was no match for him. He had managed to discover and dodge five other traps, and he had gotten the location of four more. Sakura could have probably found them too, if she hadn't been pissed off and paying attention just to his face that she wanted to bash. Sarutobi nodded.

"Good work in being able to walk here, Sasuke-kun." Sasuke answered the Hokage's joke with a simple 'Hmph'. In the meanwhile, Naruto was observing his rival. He looked unchanged, Konoha forehead protector apart. But he knew that he had been training as hard as he had been… He snorted. That got Sasuke's attention.

"What's so funny, dobe?"

"Eheheh… Nothing." Naruto smiled to himself and shook his head. He didn't know how to define what he had been doing ever since coming to Mahora. Being Negi's guardian, training with Kaede and Chachamaru, risking to die of bloodloss lots of times, studying with Yue… He was enjoying himself. But still, he felt like everything had helped him grow. "Nothing at all."

"… Idiot."

"I see you're both ready. So, second fight of this exam. The examinee Uzumaki Naruto versus the second opponent: Uchiha Sasuke." Sarutobi raised his hands and pointed at the two young ones to his sides. Naruto immediately lowered his stance, crouching down, bending his knees. Sasuke did the same, his hands immediately going to his weapon pouches.

"…" _I remember in the academy… _Naruto dug his heels into the ground, and his mind went trough all the strategies he had worked on with the help of Yue and what he had read on the scroll. The scroll said 'A ninja prepares his fight before even fighting. He studies the terrain, he studies himself and the enemy'. And Naruto remembered clearly that in the academy Sasuke was superior to him, even if he wouldn't ever admit it to anyone. Superior in a lot of things. And even now, he didn't feel like he had reached his level yet. So, fighting him head on, at the moment, would a suicide. All that thinking had made his head hurt. He wasn't used to it. But the point was… _The only way to win a fight against someone that you can't defeat directly is…_ Sarutobi lowered his hands.

"Begin!"

_Not fighting him at all!_ Naruto's hands moved quickly while Sasuke launched himself at him. Fortunately he was quicker. He had already prepared what he wanted to launch. "Take this!"

"!" Sasuke stopped and took a step back. Naruto did the same while throwing at the ground three smokebombs and a kunai with attacked half a paperbomb. It was going to explode right after it touched the ground. And so happened. The explosion happened before the smokebombs touched the ground, so the first one had the effect of scattering the smoke in a larger area. "… Damn." Sasuke decided to stay put. He couldn't risk to walk without paying attention at his surroundings, with all the traps Naruto had put around. When the smoke cleared, Naruto was nowhere to be seen. "… He got away."

Sasuke began to look around, looking for signs of Naruto's escapade. In the meanwhile the audience was pretty impressed. Mainly Kakashi and Sarutobi. From what they remembered of Naruto, they were pretty sure that he would have immediately brought the fight to a level of close range combat. He had grown, it seemed. The most impressed one was Sayo. Her eyes expressed nothing but admiration and awe. Then she realized that Naruto had disappeared and that it probably meant that she couldn't see how the rest of the fight went. That earned a pout from her.

"…" Sasuke looked around. And he couldn't find any trace of Naruto running off to nowhere. That meant… He raised his eyes to look at the trees. And he saw a tree branch who had just recently lost some leaves which now laid scattered across the ground. "That's where you went." While he hurried after him, Naruto kept on getting far, to the point of start of his new plan. Plan 'Weaken Sasuke bit by bit'.

In the meanwhile Sarutobi walked back to the rest of the audience and pulled out his crystal ball.

"Let's see how this fight goes, shall we?"

--

It had been ten minutes ever since Sasuke went after Naruto, and the raven haired prodigy had just arrived in the middle of another clearing where Naruto's traces had suddenly disappeared. That meant that he wasn't running anymore. Right now he was hiding.

"Hiding, deadlast? You're scared of facing me?" Sasuke kept on walking slowly, his hands ready to throw Shuriken at any moment. "Come out and fight me."

"An interesting proposal. Let me consider it… No." Naruto's voice came from a direction. The volley of Shuriken that came out of a tree from another. Sasuke jumped out of its way, but a few scraped his right leg.

"Coward." He immediately got back on his feet. The injury was superficial.

"I prefer the term 'real ninja'. Isn't this what ninjas are supposed to do? Hiding, not make flashy entrances and kill their enemy in one on one epic showdowns." How the hell? His voice came from another direction than before. "You see, I'm pretty positive, even if it crushes my self-esteem, that I can't beat you in a toe-to-toe fight, so, why should I take the risk?"

"Ah!" A kunai launched from his right had cut Sasuke's right shoulder. The prodigy immediately reacted by turning around and launching shuriken in the direction the kunai had come from. He waited for a reaction.

"Not when I have managed to make Jounin unable to track or spot me whenever I pulled a prank on them and I know you never accomplished anything like this."

"!!" His head shot in the new direction where Naruto's voice was coming from. "How…"

"I think I'm a lot better off just sniping at you from the shadows for now, wearing you down until I can take you down easily."

"…" Sasuke gritted his teeth angrily. The deadlast hadn't become stronger, but he sure had become annoying. "Fine. Keep on scraping me. But you can't beat me like this."

"I'll take my chances, Sasuke-kuuuuun." It really was becoming annoying. Sasuke in an instant knew that paying attention to the direction of the voice would lead him nowhere. He had to pay attention to other things. Movements, the wind, shadows… Then, he noticed it. A big shadow in the tree near him. As fast as he could he somersaulted and halted under the tree, and then threw a volley of kunai at the shadow.

_I've got you now!_ Sasuke smirked in satisfaction as he heard the kunai penetrate something with a series of loud 'crack'… Crack? _Wait, crack? What…_ Sasuke had half his mouth opened. That was why the liquid that fell on him entered his mouth other than completely wetting him from head to toe. He stood there, stunned, for a few seconds, while a laughing Naruto jumped from a tree to the middle of the clearing.

"Liked that? I got it from a comic book drawn with sticks!"

"…" Sasuke slowly turned around towards the blonde goth-dressed idiot, while tasting what had just entered his mouth. "… Sake?"

"Yep. I found the hidden stash of the high schoolers!"

"… You've soaked me with rice wine to humiliate me?" Asked, his eyes flaming. Naruto just smirked while rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Among other things."

"…" Sasuke began to go trough a series of seals. Naruto blinked. Sasuke was about to…

"H-Hey, wait! Don't use…"

"Katon! Goukakkyu no jutsu!"

I suppose it never occurred to the last Uchiha that sake is as inflammable as dry leaves during summer.

--

Sarutobi and Kakashi cringed for Sasuke while his scream threatened to shatter their eardrums. Using fire jutsu while covered in sake wasn't exactly very genius-like. On the other hand, the boy probably had touched sake like two times in his life. Naruto instead had used it a lot of times for his pranks.

Sayo chuckled. She had started doing so ever since she had heard Naruto quoting almost line by line that particular strip of that particular comic. Now she understood why he had been reading it so much. But this had been really unexpected. It was 'When in doubt, set something on fire', not 'Make them set themselves on fire'.

But the most interested one was Evangeline. She was expecting to see something else, but… This was intriguing as well. Lies, deception, schemes… Evil things. She preferred the raw use of power to force people, but those were fine in her book as well. She turned around to Chachamaru.

"Did you help at all with planning all that?"

"No, master." Replied the Gynoid. "Neil… No, Naruto-san." Chachamaru corrected herself applying the new information about the blonde. Mainly, his real name. "He planned everything on his own. I just helped to retrieve the sake from the high schoolers' secret place."

"… Intriguing." She turned then to the rustling bushes, where Naruto was dragging a pretty charred up Sasuke behind him. "Indeed… Very intriguing."

"Ehm… I'm sorry. I just wanted him to be unable to use fire jutsu…" Naruto was trying to apologize, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Sarutobi chuckled while kneeling next to Sasuke.

"It's alright, Naruto. It's his own fault… Or maybe mine. I think we should teach some chemistry too, in the academy." While checking the Uchiha's pulse, the Sandaime had occasion to have a look at his watch. "Well, we will need to take Sasuke-kun to the infirmary. So, that means half an hour of break for you. Even if you didn't spend much energy."

"Well… Thanks, jiisan. Try to check on Sakura-chan's whereabouts on the way back too." Sarutobi nodded and then picked up Sasuke. He nodded to the principal and the two disappeared in thin air together, leaving the blonde boy stunned. He didn't have much time to voice his surprise, though, because a hand pulled on his shoulder and forcefully turned him around, and then lowered him to the owner's eyelevel. "Ehm… Eva-chan."

"I did know you were a ninja, but I didn't know you were so cunning, hon." She brought her hand to his left cheek. And Naruto felt himself being drawn to her again. That same sensation… He found himself staring into her eyes. "And you were hiding your true name as well… Do you have any other…" He suddenly felt uncomfortable. It was like the sensation had strengthened… But why was he feeling bad, then? "Secret you want to tell me about?" _… Something's wrong._

"Ehm…" His head was starting to hurt. He shook his head and gently removed Evangeline's hand with his own left one. "No, Eva-chan. Nothing."

"Oh…" Evangeline was able to mask her surprise. She released her 'charm', and Naruto found that his head felt fine again. But the vampire just couldn't understand what had happened. It was like… The stronger her charm got, the stronger had been the negative response of the boy. And that meant something. _Or the boy has a very strong will when it comes to defending that particular secret, or… There's something that makes him resistant to my charm… Maybe that same power?_

--

In the meanwhile, shall we check out where Sakura ended up?

"Owwww! When I'll get my hands on that baka…"

"Ehm… Could you maybe get off me?"

"Uh?" Sakura had landed somewhere pretty uncomfortable… For the man she had landed on. In a hot spring. He was pretty cute too. She blushed. "I-I-I'm sorry… I mean, I…"

"Don't worry, I know how it feels. I mean, when you get launched trough the air you can't decide where you land…"

"KEITARO! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT KID?!" The boy palmed his head.

"Of course, there are other opinions…" Sakura, seeing an angry auburn-haired girl marching like she usually did towards Naruto, understood what had happened. The boy had been mistaken for a pervert… How? I mean, it didn't make sense. She was the one who had landed like, ten minutes after he had entered the hot springs, judging from his state… Nevermind. She moved in front of the boy waving her hands in defense.

"Hey, it's alright! I've just…"

"Take this!" Smack. The girl hadn't stopped her 'fist of righteous fury' while Sakura hadn't stopped walking in front of him. Result? The ninja girl received a right hook to the face, that sent her into the water a few meters apart. "Ah!"

"N-Naru! Have you lost your mind?!" Keitaro hurried to the girl's side. That seemed to break the auburn girl out of her shock.

"Stay away from her! This is all your fault!" She said. Then, Keitaro decided to snap for once in his life.

"My fault?! How can it be my fault?! You jumped to conclusion like usual and went all Lou Ferrigno on me and this poor girl in the process!"

"…" But Sakura wasn't out at all. She had managed to send chakra to the impact point just before the punch hit home. She was just… Fuming with rage. She slowly got back up, wet and pissed off.

"Ah! You're okay?!"

"… First a guy I despise manages to humiliate me in front of Sasuke-kun…"

"Eh?" The girl was slowly burning around… And Keitaro was starting to get worried. He knew that tone of voice in a girl.

"Then some kind of crazy bitch punches me while trying to punch someone else with no apparently valid reason… And it hurt." Suddenly, flames enveloped Sakura's body. She turned around completely. "WELL, PARDON ME FOR BEING PISSED OFF! GOOD WORK ON THAT HOOK, SISTER! BUT I'VE GOT ONE BETTER! YAAAAAAAH!"

The scene that ensued later reminded Keitaro of the battle between the Hulk and the Sentry in WWH. Worldbreakers and all that. Well, Hinata-breakers…

--

"I'm back with your corrected forms, girls."

"…" There. The moment of truth. The whole class was waiting for the results to appear on the giant screen along with Negi. To know their class' ranking. And in the meanwhile, Shizuka sensei had brought back their exam forms, now corrected.

"Everyone ranked more or less as usual, with a few exceptions." Yue felt a sudden urge to bang her head against her desk in admonishment. "And by the way, I have a few words for our 'baka-rangers'." Said group raised their heads and looked at Shizuna-sensei. She had a serious face. "I must say, I'm not really surprised…"

"…" _It's over…_ Thought Negi. He had failed himself and his students.

"I always knew you girls had it in you."

"Eh?" Makie was the first one to voice her stupor. Everyone then looked at the giant screen. The rankings had been shown, and… Their class had ranked… "We… We ranked first?!"

"YEEEEEEEEEAH! I'M RICH!"

"Congratulations on your hard work, baka-rangers!" Shizuna gave each of the baka rangers their papers. And everyone was shocked to see how high they had ranked compared to the usual. All that studying while trapped down there had paid off.

"HORRAY! GO GO BAKA-RANGERS!"

"Makie, no quoting famous opening themes of famous TV shows of the old good days when cartoons didn't suck!"

"…" Yue let out a breath of relief she didn't know she had been holding in. Then, something occurred to her. She turned to Negi. "Negi-sensei, where's Neil-san?"

"Eh? Ah, right! Neil-san! He's having his secret exam right now! I don't know where, though!"

--

"Alright. Sasuke-kun is going to be okay. Too bad for his hair, though. They had to cut them all off. They will regrow with time, though."

"…" Naruto thought of a bald Sasuke… And then fell on his knees holding his stomach to restrain the laughter that was threatening to shatter everyone's eardrums. Sarutobi coughed to make Naruto regain his composure.

"It's not the time to laugh, Naruto. You know…" Sarutobi turned his head to the approaching Jonin, who had his attention on an orange book currently opened at page 43 in his hands. "You still have the hardest one to beat."

"…" Naruto realized that he really didn't have time to laugh. A Jounin was a true, powerful ninja. That much he knew. And even if this one read porn… Wait a minute… He blinked. "Hey. Weren't you in ANBU?"

"…" That got Kakashi's attention. Seems like Naruto had heard of him. "Yes. Why do you ask? I don't recall that we've ever met before."

"Nope. But an ANBU-neechan I know sometimes ranted about her perverted captain who kept on reading an orange porn book on every mission."

"…" Kakashi closed the book shut in one move. Damn female ex-subordinates. "Yugao, probably."

"So…" Sarutobi turned to the blonde again. "Naruto, who's going to be your partner for this fight?"

"Ah, of course. Cha-chan! It's our turn!"

"…" The Gynoid turned to her master, giving her the look that usually meant asking for permission for something, or better confirm the permission already given to her. Evangeline nodded.

"Go and help him, Chachamaru. Give it all you've got." Evangeline turned then to eye Kakashi. "That man looks awfully strong."

"Yes, Master."

"Ah, by the way…" Evangeline blinked and pointed to Chachamaru's head. "Weren't your hair, like… Blonde?"

"… They've always been green, master. At least in the anime."

"… If you say so." Evangeline shrugged it off. Chachamaru did a little bow and then walked to Naruto's side. Kakashi in the meanwhile was observing both his opponents. He thought it was going to be interesting. Naruto had showed an unexpected mental growth, and he was about to see if his physical abilities had grown as well. And for the girl… He couldn't quite put his finger on what was strange about her, but he had a sensation that Naruto had made a good choice for his fighting partner. And why couldn't he sense any chakra coming from her?

Naruto gulped and then raised his head to look at Chachamaru, who answered to his stare with her usual stoic one.

"Are you ready, Cha-chan?" She nodded. He then shifted his gaze to Kakashi. "Are you… Are you sure you want to do this?"

"… Master said to do so." Naruto scratched his right cheek.

"I know, but… You could get really hurt fighting him, you know." He returned his gaze to her. "I know that Eva-chan gave you her permission and told you to do so, but… Do you want to?"

"I… Want to?" Naruto blinked. He had asked something simple.

"Yes. I mean, do you want to help me? Are you willing to get hurt to help me out?"

"I…" Chachamaru felt confused. That choice of words… Want to? Willing to? People rarely used those words with her. The times were few. Under fifteen. She analyzed them. And found that it was maybe the first time that she found herself analyzing those particular patterns. Will… Her will. What was she willing to do? And why? She opened the folder named PR. A file clearly told that people did favours and helped people at the risk of getting hurt when they had a friendly relationship. Then, she thought about her relationship with Naruto. They had developed a certain level of acknowledgment of each other thanks to the time they spent together training, and the blonde boy certainly liked her gesture of attentions and her spending time with him. And him… He was always gentle and never complained about anything she told him to do, not even when their training got physical. So, yes… They had a friendly relationship.

_Uh?_ Chachamaru brought a hand to her mouth. Something had happened to her lips. Their angles had suddenly moved upward for a brief second. She would have to check her facial muscles' functions, later. "… I… I have to obey my master's orders, but… I think I'm willing to help you, Naruto-san."

"…" Naruto scratched the back of his head. He didn't understand much of what she was saying… But he grinned nonetheless. "That means much to me, Cha-chan! Now, let's rock!"

"Alright, then." Sarutobi extended both his arms to his side. Kakashi and Chachamaru simply stood there, while Naruto got into a guard stance. "Third match. Hatake Kakashi versus Naruto and Chachamaru."

"Ganbatte, Naruto!" Sayo. And again the most sensible people had the sudden urge to turn in her direction. Sarutobi shrugged it off almost immediately, though.

"Begin!"

"Charge!"

"Hmmm…" Kakashi took a step back when he saw Naruto charge at him directly. _It seems he's back to normal._ The blonde did a little jump and tried to punch Kakashi in the face. The Jonin parried the hit with one hand, gripping the punch firmly. Naruto used the momentum to turn and kick him on the side of the head. Kakashi used his other hand to parry that. The blonde still had a punch and a leg free. He tried to punch Kakashi in the gut. Kakashi just threw the blonde high in the air above him. "Too brash, Naruto. What happened to…"

"Gotcha!"

"!!" Before Kakashi could reflect on what Naruto meant, the Jonin felt an awfully strong kick hitting him in the stomach, sending him flying a few meters forward. He back flipped in the air and landed on his feet, just in time to dodge a barrage of shuriken thrown by Naruto. He jumped on top of one of the trees. "…"

"Good work, Cha-chan." Indeed. It seems that Naruto's attack was just to throw Kakashi offguard. But what really had shocked him was that the girl had stayed immobile all the time till an opening showed in Kakashi's guard for her to deliver a full-powered attack. And to find something like that in a brief second.

"… You've chosen quite the partner, Naruto."

"Cha-chan it's THAT awesome, Kakashi-san!" Said Naruto, while throwing a kunai towards a point under his feet… Oh. Another trap. Kakashi jumped in the air and dodged the explosion, and for Naruto it was the signal that the orange-clone fest was to begin. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

"…" Kakashi began to parry and dodge attacks in the air, since some clones had decided to be rabbits for a day. In the meanwhile, the girl was walking fairly quick around the space just under him, waiting for an opening again. _I must say, they came up with a nice strategy to compensate for Naruto's lack of real-battles experience. But…_ "I wonder if your strategy will be good enough, Naruto."

--

"Anf… Anf…" The battle had been raging for more than thirty minutes. The two warriors stood in the middle of the devastated battle field, a mess of wood, rocks and hot water, bruises and injuries evident on their bodies. Suddenly… The younger one smirked. "You're not half bad, hag…"

"You're not bad either, for a brat…"

"Hmph."

"Ah!"

They threw themselves at each other, in an explosion of power and speed, clashing in explosions of lights, under the stares of a pop-corn munching audience.

"Kaolla, I must say, your pop-corn maker is one of your best inventions."

"Yeah! Wanna taste the banana-flavoured ones?!"

"A marvellous display of power."

"…" In the meanwhile, Keitaro used that battle to reflect on his life… He really was in love with such a monster? If he started to date Naru, wouldn't just the physical harm grow in number? He needed to secure himself from all the harm… He needed someone to protect him that wouldn't hurt him in return… He turned to his sister. "Kanako."

"Yes, oni… …" Keitaro had suddenly grasped his little sister's hands with his own, gently, and was offering her his most serious look. "O-Onii-san? What…"

"Marry me, Kanako."

"EH?!"

"WHAT?!"

"SAY THAT AGAIN?!"

"SENPA?!"

"Marriage? Can you eat that?"

Kanako just fainted.

_Continue…_

_In the next chapter…_

The battle ends! What will be the outcome?! How it will be reached?! And then, love! And on a side note, will Sakura ever come back to her team? And what will Kanako say? Stay tuned!


	6. Rewrite Notice

**Important Notice**

To everyone who like this story and have it on alerts, I have good news for you.

I just posted the first chapter of this story's rewrite, which is called Pactio Quindecim. Those who know at least a little bit of latin could already understand the first important change in this rewrite.

I will leave up the original version for those who want to make comparisons or just plain enjoy the older version.

That said, just go and check my profile for the new story. Enjoy!

Meinos Kaen


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